Psalm 148,1ff; Psalm 119,89-90. 20. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 148,1.2.3.5-6.12-13; Psalm 119,89-90a 5317

20. Trinitatis  065; Gedenktag der Reformation   095 (observed)

Narcissus, Bishop of Gerona in Spain, Martyr 307 

29. Oktober 2017 

1. O Lord, the eyes of all look to You, open Your hand in blessing, so that You satisfy our desire for the gospel of Christ crucified.  Amen. (Gradual). 

2. Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations. Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars! Let them praise the Name of the Lord! For He commanded and they were created. And He established them forever and ever; He gave a decree, and it will not pass away. Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the Name of the Lord, for his Name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven. 

  3. The Lutheran Reformation 500 years ago centered on restoring the certainty of salvation (Heilsgewißheit) in the Church. The 500 years prior to 1517 had seen a gradual erosion of proclaiming the pure gospel as such proclamation was replaced by other means to assure people of God’s mercy. The indulgences that Luther famously railed against in his 95 Theses were but the latest ecclesiastical erosion the pure gospel to the distraught Christian. The Medieval Church in Luther’s day was a Church in exile: the absolution that your sins are fully and freely forgiven by Jesus Christ was rarely heard; coin and hard work might grant you a morsel of that absolution, but what are a few crumbs to a person starving from the guilt of their sins? Jesus was portrayed more often as a stern judge rather than a Merciful Savior, so the saints, their relics and penance were used to help appease this angry Jesus on your account. 

4. What happens when these paltry morsels of absolution fail to appease one’s guilty conscience? You get a Martin Luther, a man who represents every Christian (Jedermann) who’s guilty conscience wasn’t satisfied with these morsels. Luther did every thing Medieval Christianity told him to do: he went to confession and made temporal restitution for his sins, he revered the holy relics, he went on pilgrimages and yes, young Luther also purchased some indulgences for his relatives. None of this eased his conscience, and there were many men and women in that same boat with Luther. 

5. Medieval Christianity, however, also came to young Luther’s rescue, and it arrived in a man named Johann von Staupitz; he was the dean of the Augustinian monastery where Friar Luther resided. Staupitz saw Luther’s daily distress and concluded: the only thing that will help poor Martin is the Word of God, for he knew what the Psalmist knew: »O Lord, Your Word is forever fixed firmly in the heavens and Your faithfulness endures to all generations.« Staupitz reasoned that if Martin spent time studying, teaching and preaching the Holy Scriptures, then he would finally find the cure for his burdened conscience. So in 1511 Staupitz told Luther: you are going to Wittenberg to earn a doctorate in theology. It is safe to say that we could push the traditional date of the Reformation back a few years to that momentous decision in 1511. Luther went to the newly established [1502] Wittenberg University where he diligently studied, earned his doctorate, taught university students and preached at the University Chapel known as All Saints (Allerheiligen) aka the Castle Church (Schloßkirche). St. Mary’s is the Stadtkirche. During that time Luther finally understood the pure gospel while preparing his lectures on the Epistle to the Romans, as St. Paul says: »The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith in faith, as it is written The righteous will live by faith« [Habakkuk 2,4] (Romans 1,17). »The angels, all the host of heaven, the sun, moon and stars praised the Lord« for the gospel light was again shining forth upon the darkness that had befallen the Medieval Church. 

6. Luther writes about that glorious moment: „First I saw this well, namely, that the free gift is absolutely necessary for obtaining the light and the heavenly life, and I worked anxiously and diligently to understand the well-known statement in Romans 1,17: »The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel.« Then I sought and knocked for a long time (cf. Matthew 7,7), for that expression »the righteousness of God« stood in the way. It was commonly explained by saying that the righteousness of God is the power of God by which God Himself is formally righteous and condemns sinners. This is the way all teachers except Augustine had interpreted this passage: the righteousness of God is equated to be the the wrath of God. But every time I read this passage, I always wished that God had never revealed the Gospel—for who could love a God who is angry, judges, and condemns?—until finally, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, I weighed more carefully the passage in Habakkuk (2,4), where I read: »The righteous shall live by his faith.« From this I concluded that life must come from faith. In this way I related the abstract to the concrete, and all Holy Scripture and heaven itself were opened to me. At this time, however we see that great light very clearly, and we may enjoy it richly. But we despise and disdain this jewel and heavenly treasure. Accordingly, if one day it should be taken away again, we shall cry and knock once more, as Christ says about the foolish virgins in the parable (cf. Matthew 25,11). But we shall cry and knock in vain. Therefore let us fear God and be grateful. Above all, however, my own example and the example of others should move you. We lived in death and hell and did not have the blessing so abundantly as you have it. Therefore occupy yourselves diligently with the doctrine of the blessing, and think about it, in order that you may be able to keep it yourselves and also to make it known to others. As for ourselves, we have done our duty“ (Luther 158; WA 43,537). 

7. The Apostle Paul described the gospel in his Epistle to the Corinthians: »The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. This gospel of Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but to those who are called to faith, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God« (1. Corinthians 1,23-24). Luther’s 62. Thesis is the cornerstone of his 95 Theses; it declares: The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God. 500 years later the Church continues to proclaim this bright light of the gospel. 

8. The bright beam of the gospel gave Luther the certainty of salvation (Heilsgewißheit) his guilty conscience had been craving; it lead him to proclaim: „Anyone who regards God the Father as angry is not seeing Him correctly, but has pulled down a curtain and cover, more, a dark cloud over His face. But in Scriptural language to see His face is to recognize Him correctly as a Gracious and Faithful Father, on whom you can depend for every good thing. This happens only through faith in Christ“ (Luther 21,37). And so Luther writes in his famous hymn: „Jesus Christ is the Valiant One who fights for us whom God Himself elected“ (A Mighty Fortress 2). »The Lord’s Word is forever firmly fixed in the heavens; the Lord’s faithfulness endures to all generations.« 

9. Absolute certainty of forgiveness is the hallmark of Christ and His gospel. We have this certainty because Christ on the cross has redeemed us from God’s wrath and His condemning judgment. The gates of hell are now barred and closed to you, and the doors into heaven are unlocked and wide open for you because the gospel of Christ Jesus crucified and risen for you and your sinfulness justifies you: all your sins have been paid for and you are now righteous before God the Father. The gospel sanctifies you: the Holy Spirit daily works in you to create good works by which your neighbors are blessed. The gospel is revealed by faith and received by faith. You are saved. You are righteous. You are sanctified. Christ has made it so. The gospel proclaims it. Believe it, for the gospel is the power of God the Son working in your life through the Holy Scriptures, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and Absolution. The gospel is yours by grace and it is free all on account of Christ. You can be certain of it, for Christ alone is your Righteousness. 

10. Luther’s Reformation of the Church didn’t stop at rejecting the issuance of indulgences; once the light of the gospel shone brightly again other practices were reformed. In Luther’s day, the laity received only the bread at communion, for just the priest and bishops received both the bread and wine. This practice was only 300 years old, a rather recent change, in the Church’s long history. Luther re-established the Sacrament as Jesus had given it: all who partake are to receive the bread and wine. Latin was the official Church language in the 16. century. The liturgy, hymns and sermon were all said or sung in Latin. While everyone learned Latin as children, many ordinary Christians simply had a remedial grasp of a language they didn’t use day to day in their lives. Luther reformed the Divine Service (Gottesdienst) so that the liturgy, hymns and sermons were said and sung in the language the people understood. The parishioners ceased to be observers of the worship and became participants who now heard the gospel in their native tongue. Luther also shifted the focus off of the saints and onto Christ alone. He urged the people to take their petitions and prayers to Jesus and not to the saints, because Jesus truly is a loving, merciful Savior who wants to help you. Now the saints merely serve as examples to follow in their faith and works, they are to be respected as Christian men and women who loved Jesus and role models of how to live out our faith in this temporal life. 

11. Jesus is a God who saves fallen humanity; the gospel shows how this salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) unfolds and where we find the certainty of salvation. 

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

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

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. You can be certain of your salvation, for Christ alone (solus Christus) is your Righteousness.   Amen. 

12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Very Gospel of our Heavenly Father, may the light of the gospel always shine brightly from Your Church; so that distraught sinners may see and believe that they are redeemed by You alone.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

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

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.  

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 5: Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 26-30. „Preface to the New Testament“. Jaroslav Pelikan, Ed.; Walter A. Hansen, Ed. Copyright © 1968 Concordia Publishing House. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 21 : The Sermon on the Mount and the Magnificat.  J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald and H. T. Lehmann, Ed. Copyright © 1956 Concordia Publishing House.