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October
30, 2011
by Jon Strasman
Based on Romans 3
Today is Reformation Sunday. And this morning about 7:45, I received a most unexpected, but uplifting phone call. Father Karl Schray from Holy Redeemer Catholic Church called me and wished us a blessed reformation Sunday. He is thankful for Martin Luther teaching them about grace. He looks forward to participating in the ecumenical thanksgiving worship we have coming up on November 23.
American teenagers, when asked about their faith in a recently published National Study on Youth and Religion, responded with a de facto creed that goes something like this:
1.
A God
exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on
earth. 2.
God wants
people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and
by most world religions. 3.
The
central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. 4.
God does
not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is
needed to resolve a problem. 5. Good people go to heaven when they die.
More than 500 years ago, there was another teenager in Germany who had a similar creed. He thought, if he could just be good enough, his parents, teachers, and God would love him. His name was Martin Luther. One week Martin earned 15 spankings in school. Martin’s parents once said, “We punish you because we love you.” So Martin believed that those who cared about him had to punish him. Martin saw Jesus as a stern judge who wanted to punish sinners.
In 1501 Martin enrolled at the University of Erfurt.
He wanted to become a lawyer. But
Martin’s heart was not in his studies.
His grades were good but he wanted more to study than law.
He needed more than the law to become as good as he could be.
When one of his friends suddenly died, Martin became sad and a little afraid. “What if I die? Am I good enough to face Jesus?" He wondered.
On a weekend home Martin got caught in thunder and lightning storm. He thought he would be killed. So he cried out, “Save me, Saint Anne, mother of Mary… and I promise to become a monk.” Martin eventually sold all of his possessions and entered an Augustinian Monastery. At first Martin felt as peace with God. But later, his doubts came back. Was God really happy with him?
He would punish himself for every little sin. He went without food, he stayed up all night praying and he even whipped himself. But all this only made Martin sick.
Martin left the monastery and moved to Wittenberg where he taught younger students at the university. There he discovered grace in Paul’s letter to the Romans.
In our second lesson for today Paul writes… All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And we are made right with God not through being good enough, but only through faith in Jesus Christ.
One day in Wittenberg, where Luther was a teacher and pastor at the Cathedral Church, a man named Tetzel came to town to sell indulgences on behalf of the pope. Indulgences were pieces of paper that said your sins were forgiven. Buy an indulgence and you were certain to go to heaven. Luther was irate. He said, “Money can’t buy the forgiveness of sins.”
On October 31, Luther marched to the cathedral, and there on the great wooden door that served as a community bulletin board, he nailed 95 theses, that is, 95 arguments for debate. People quickly copied the theses down and ran them off on a new device called the printing press. Soon they spread all over Germany.
The pope was furious and Luther became a hero all over Germany. They expelled Luther from the church, making him a criminal, where he went into hiding at Wartburg Castle. There he translated the Bible into German for the masses to read on their own. He had no desire to split the church. He always hoped that the church would change, re-form. People call this period the reformation. Today we celebrate Reformation Sunday. And the followers of Luther were called Protestants.
The key to the reformation was Luther’s desire to be true to God’s word in Jesus Christ. Salvation is a free gift. The word of God sparked the reformation for the church. And the church continually needs to reform through the study of the word. God’s word can also spark reformation in us too.
Do you ever wonder if you are good enough? Well it’s time to stop wondering.
So Britney, when asked what did you learn in confirmation today? Nothing… she said.
Sing Nothing by Chris Rice Nothing
can wash away my sin
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