Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Philippians 3,17-21. 23. Sunday after Trinity (Reformation Sunday)

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Philippians 3,17-21 5416

23. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 068

The Commemoration of the Reformation

Marcellus, captain, Martyr in Spain, ✠ 298

30. Oktober 2016

1. О Lord God, Heavenly Father: we thank You that You have hitherto granted us peace and graciously spared us from war and foreign dominion: We pray, graciously let us continue to live in Your fear according to Your will, giving no cause for wars or other punishment; govern and direct our magistrates, so that they may not hinder the obedience due to You, but maintain righteousness, so that we may enjoy happiness and blessing under their government, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One True God, world without end. Amen. (Veit Dietrich for the 23. Sn. n. Trinitatis)

2. Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.

3. There have been times in the Church’s history where divergent beliefs have existed side-by-side until an official and orthodox position could be confessed by the Church. One example of this concerned the nature of Christ: was He unbegotten God from all eternity or was He the first creation of God the Father? This doctrine was finally decided in 325 at the Council of Nicaea which gave us the Nicene Creed we confessed earlier this morning; the specific phrases in that Creed teach that Jesus is the unbegotten God from all eternity and no mere created being.

4. Medieval Christianity had had another example of such divergence as two different views on the gospel existed side by side. One view said: the gospel is a free gift given to us through Word and Sacrament. The other view saddled that gospel with an ever-increasing penitential system of works meant to assure one of forgiveness. So there was nothing out of the ordinary when Luther called for an academic, theological debate on the topic of indulgences in 1517, for the penitential system was not an established confession of the Church, but a tradition that had been around for several hundred years, and therefore it was open for debate among theologians. Indulgences and the penance system did not become official doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church until the Council of Trent concluded in 1563 (the Council opened in 1545). Thus, the Western Church by 1517 was a Church with two different gospels: one gospel was the sinner was justified by faith alone; and the other gospel was the sinner was justified by works manifested in the penitential system. Luther’s anxiety in 1517 was that he did not believe that he was justified (Olivier 96). Luther was not alone in this angst as many before him and in his day felt that same distress.

5. Luther’s cure was the Holy Scriptures and the gospel proclaimed in them. He wrote in 1522: „The gospel is a brief discourse about Christ, that He is the Son of God and became a man for us, that He died and rose, that He is established as a Lord over all things“ (Luther’s Works 35,118). Luther said that this gospel is the true treasure of the Church (95 Theses § 62), but in Luther’s day this gospel was hidden. Peasant Hans and his wife Greta were bombarded with Christian artwork and preaching that portrayed Jesus as an angry God on the verge of smiting, slaying and punishing for the slightest violation of the commandments. Since they could not go to Jesus for relief, the Christians of Medieval Europe had to pursue other avenues to find grace, and these things involved actions they had to perform in order to merit God’s salvation. Luther, however, refused to let the pure gospel be hidden in the shadows of such penitential actions.

6. Luther elevated the gospel upon the Church’s mountaintop. The first peak is the Sermon, and the second peak is the Sacrament of the Altar (Richard 23). From these twin peaks shines the light of the gospel. The Sermon proclaims Christ our Light who has redeemed us; the Sacrament gives us the forgiveness Jesus Himself merited for us upon the cross. Therefore, The Service of Evening Prayer in our hymnal exhorts us to chant:

℣ Jesus Christ is the | Light of the world: * [John 8,12]

℟ the Light no darkness can | o - ver - come. [John 1,5]

℣ Stay with us, Lord, for it is | eve - ning *

℟ and the day is almost | o - ver. [Luke 24,29]

℣ Let Your Light scatter the | dark - ness: * [1. Corinthians 4,5]

℟ and il - | lu - mine Your Church [2. Corinthians 4,6] (LSB 243-44).

7. The light of Christ and His gospel is summarized in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: »The righteous shall live by his faith« (Habakkuk 2,4; Romans 1,17). Jesus comforts us with the gospel and it’s absolute certainty. The gospel proclaims that we are forgiven, loved and redeemed by God. The threats of the law have been silenced. The condemnation of the law has been commuted. Jesus is our Substitute. He took our place under the law, lived it perfectly, suffered its condemnation for us in our place and rose from the grave in glorious victory. The gospel for terrified sinners who are burdened by the law or seeking a way to live a better life in Jesus is: Christ has done it all for us and He gives us His righteousness. Christ has found us and has restored our fortunes: this is the pure gospel, and thus this is the proclamation in the Sermon and the Sacrament. You are saved. You are righteous. You are sanctified. Christ has made it so. You hear it with your ears and receive it with your mouth. Believe it, for the gospel is the power of God the Son working in your life through the Scripture and Sacrament. The gospel is yours by grace and it is free all on account of Christ.

8. Saint Paul assures us in his epistle: »Our citizenship is in heaven, and from heaven we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.« The cornerstone of the Lutheran Reformation is: we are freely justified before God for Christ’s sake through faith (AC 4), for this is the heart and soul of the gospel. The gospel is the promise of absolute certainty of salvation (Heilsgewißheit) that God the Father looks upon us with His love and favor. This promise overrules any negative word spoken by the devil, the world or our sinful flesh. God’s word in Jesus is His final word, and it is a word of redemption. You can be certain of it, for Christ alone (solus Christus) is your righteousness. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou are worthy to be praised for all Your works; help us to proclaim You as the gospel of the world so that all may hear and believe in the certainty of salvation that You have merited for the world. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Pauli, Sergej. Ein kleiner Unterricht, was man in den Evangelien suchen und erwarten soll. NIMM UND LIES, Veröffentlicht am 1. März 20014 — Kommentare 1 http://www.nimm-lies.de/ein-kleiner-unterricht-was-man-in-den-evangelien-suchen-und-erwarten-soll/7942/comment-page-1 Wenz, Armin. A sermon preached on 31. October 2008 in Oberursel, Germany on Galatians 5,1-6. Copyright © 2006 The Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2009.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, October 31, 2016

Philippians 3,17-21. 23. Sunday after Trinity (Reformation Sunday)

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