Trinity Lutheran Church-Logan (LCMS)
10/27/24
Reformation Day
Text: Jn. 8:31-36
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Every church wants to claim they’re the true disciples of Jesus. Everyone wants an authentic Christianity—the real deal without later additions or omissions. We want to be the genuine followers of Christ who are truly His disciples. This desire is always with us because Christians of every time and place have sensed when they look around in the Church that all is not well, but the false teachings and sinful practices of evil men threaten to overwhelm the truth. And so there’s a constant need for Reformation. The Church continually needs to be reshaped and purified so that true discipleship might flourish.
But the question always comes down to this—how does that reformation take place?
People often think that the Church is reformed by doing or not doing certain things. That’s because humans are very concrete. We like a problem that can be fixed with an easy stop-start solution.
Some problems in the Church are that simple. In the days of the Reformation when Martin Luther lived, there were lots of problems with pastors. Many were poorly trained, many weren’t sincere in their duties, and because they were forbidden to marry, many fell into sin. Well, a simple stop-start solution was to stop forbidding priests to marry and to start educating them better. That’s a simple, concrete, easy fix.
Many think Reformation is always that simple and concrete. There were problems in the Church back then, so we fixed them by stopping and starting. If people in the church sometimes had superstitious opinions about relics and images, then the simple stop-start solution is to forbid all images, to destroy all the beautiful churches, and to tell people they’re sinning if they have a picture of Jesus or a crucifix in their church or at home.
Many groups claim that they are the true disciples of Jesus and true heirs of the Reformation because of what they do. They stopped doing all the bad stuff and started the pure reformed practices. They only baptize with immersion, they never have any images. They never lift a finger to work on Sundays! They only read the King James bible. This makes them the true disciples and part of a truly reformed church.
Others in our day take a different approach to Reformation. They say the church’s problem is that she’s an institution. If we want to be Jesus’ true disciples, we should stop gathering in a church and come together outside and sit in a circle and hold hands and feel really close to each other and break bread on a mountaintop. Then we’re really Jesus’ disciples, man.
Others still say that the Church needs to be reformed by a spirit of love. Jesus was loving and accepting, right? The problem is that people are loveless and cold. So we should stop talking about sin, and start welcoming and accepting everyone. Then we’ll really be Jesus’ disciples.
But these are all false reformations of the Church. Immersion baptism, church outside, or being accepting does not make for true discipleship. Insisting on manmade rules, chasing a vibe, or trying to be loving, will not reform the Church to true discipleship. The Church is not reformed by outward works of men or by human opinions. But the Church is reformed by God’s word.
That is why Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We are truly Jesus disciples when we listen to His word. His word is truth and His truth frees.
Sinners don’t think this way. The Jews Jesus talked to were puzzled and offended. They didn’t know why He said they would be freed by the truth. “We are the offspring of Abraham,” they said, “And we have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free indeed?’” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
The Jews didn’t see how Jesus giving them His word of truth would free them. They didn’t understand that they needed to be set free. And that’s the state of all sinners. Sinners don’t see that they’re enslaved to sin. But Jesus tells us otherwise. All who practice sin are enslaved to it. Held captive by it, stuck in it. Everyone practices sin, so everyone is enslaved to sin. Unless, of course, they are set free.
The Church’s problem is not that we haven’t found the perfect manmade reformation. The problem is that sinners pollute and corrupt the truth. The devil incites them to it. Sinful desires, ambition, rivalry, greed, grudges corrupt the church and the word of God is cast aside.
We must not let this happen. Because Jesus’ word is truth, and that truth frees. His word is our only refuge against the all the problems we face, and His word provides the only solution. The simple truth of Jesus’ word is summarized in our epistle from Romans chapter three. There St Paul says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Sinners stand condemned before God. Sinners face God’s wrathful judgement. They can do nothing to change their status as condemned sinners. No good work of the law will help, because the law reveals sin. But St Paul says that there’s another truth: God has sent Jesus to pay for sins and to free sinners from sin and condemnation. Sinners are declared righteous, free from sin, holy and good, freely by God’s grace. Why? Because Jesus has shed His blood to blot out our sins. On the cross God carries out His justice. He punishes sin and proves Himself perfectly just. But there God also justifies, declares righteous, every sinner. He raises His Son from the dead and proclaims that we are forgiven. When we believe this proclamation, we are just, righteous, before God.
You are declared righteous before God for Christ’s sake through faith. The Son has set you free. You are free indeed. That is the truth, the truth that sets you free. You are free from the guilt and shame of your sin, free from God’s wrath, free from the power of death and the devil, because Jesus the Son has died and is risen. His death and resurrection are your salvation, your freedom, your life. To believe this is to be a Christian, a true follower of Jesus. To seal this to you God has baptized you. You are put to death and made alive a new being, free from sin and so free to serve the Lord willingly, eager to do His will.
The Church can only be reformed through this proclamation. Jesus crucified and risen is the word that changes hearts because it converts them. Nothing else will. When Christ is preached, the Church will be preserved from error. Ambition, greed, rivalry and every other sin that threatens the church will be repented of.
There is a constant need to abide in Christ’s word, then. Until our last hour the word of truth must constantly be preached to us, and we must continually proclaim it. We need it in our lives, for our sinful flesh is with us until death. The word must be preached in the Church, for error and scandal constantly assault her. The world needs it, for it does not believe the word but rages against it.
Watering down the word in the effort to appeal to a broader audience, adopting this or that ministry fad or governance model, or seeking to create some imagined version of the “true” church won’t solve the Church’s many problems. Only the word will reform, will purify, the Church from sin.
And it does. The Church will always look like a mess to us on this side of glory. There’s always another problem or falsehood to address. But where the word is preached faithfully, sinners will repent and believe the truth, that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. That truth will set them free. One day, we shall all see the fruit of the Gospel when Christ’s church is gathered together. We will all recognize that the multitude wasn’t gathered by any human work, but by Jesus’ word.
And so we preach Jesus’ word and confess that we are the genuine item. We are the true Church of Christ. We are truly His disciples because we continue in His word. We pray that we might always cling to the word. May we never put the lamp of the word under a basket but set it high on a lampstand, that its light be manifest to all.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.