Reformation Sunday – November 1, 2009
It
was a time when many within the church stole from the people and were engaged
in illicit affairs. When teachers of
God’s Word added to and subtracted from God’s Word. When religious leaders were pointing people
away from Jesus Christ. It was a time
when very few people knew what the Scriptures said. When worship for many meant nothing more than
going through the motions. When
knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ was a hard thing to find. Yes, it was a time when it looked like evil
would triumph over good; that God’s Word was gone forever; and that Satan was going
to win.
Can
anyone guess what time in the history of the world I am describing? Well, since we are celebrating the Lutheran
Reformation today, I imagine many of you think I am talking about the 16th
Century. But would it surprise you if I
told you I’m also describing the times we live in right now? And the 1st Century…and all the
centuries in-between. The world is a
dark place saturated with sin, loaded with lawlessness, and weighed down with
wickedness. It is a place where it looks
like evil will triumph over good, a place where often times it looks like God
is on the losing end, and where it seems like it is only a matter of time until
the true Word of God is gone forever. But
will that ever happen?
According
to the words of God before us today the answer is no. Listen to the words from St. John’s
Revelation:
Revelation 14: 6
Then
I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim
to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7
He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour
of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea
and the springs of water.”
The
basic principle of this vision is this: that the preaching of the gospel will
never be silenced. The angel that John
sees flying in midair symbolizes every faithful gospel witness from the time John
wrote the book of Revelation to the end of the world. And what do these witnesses have – the
eternal gospel; the words of God that will never pass away; THE bright light in an
otherwise dark world. So, on this
celebration of the Lutheran Reformation, let us study the words before us this
morning under the theme, God’s Word: the bright light in a dark world. A bright light of comfort and a bright light
of warning.
The
entire book of Revelation proclaims that in spite of the apparent progress of
Satan’s work in these last days, God and his Word and his work and his people
will be victorious. That is the purpose
of this book. While it may use
figurative language, while we will have to admit that parts of it are more than
our puny little minds can completely comprehend, the book of Revelation
comforts the believers on earth in its struggle against Satan and the forces of
evil.
In the last chapter of his letter to
the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes, “11 Put
on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s
schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark
world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”
(Ephesians 6:11,12). Our greatest
enemy is Satan, and the chapters leading up to chapter 14, from which our text
is taken, tell us that very truth. In
these chapters John is given three visions which portray the three great
enemies of the church: the devil and the two beasts that receive their power
from the devil and serve the devil’s purposes.
Of the first beast it is written, “The
great dragon…that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the
whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9).
Of the second beast we read, “He
was given power to make war against the saints” (Revelation 13:7). And of the third beast it is recorded, “Because of the signs he was given power to
do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth”
(Revelation 13:14).
Scary
picture, huh? And it is. Satan is like that hungry, ready to pounce
roaring lion looking for someone to devour, and he will stop short of nothing
to try and accomplish the one thing he wants – to get you and the rest of the
world to suffer the misery of hell with him.
If it means using people, he’ll do it, as we see in The Anti-Christ,
that office of the papacy in the Roman Catholic Church. If it means using world powers, he won’t
think twice. If it means using one of
his favorite allies, our sinful flesh, he’ll jump at the opportunity. He will lie, accuse, and stir up trouble
within visible earthly churches. There
is no limit to how far he will go.
And
can’t we see that today? Denominations
continue to stray further and further from the truth of God’s Word as
homosexuals are ordained as ministers, the six day creation is denied, the
reality of hell is rejected, the severity of sin is downplayed, Jesus Christ is
presented as only an example rather than Savior, and so fewer and fewer are
hearing the real truths of God’s Word.
Books are written that deny the divinity of Christ and people fall away
from faith. Wars wage on and injustice
continues to prevail to make it look like God is losing. Even within our own church Satan successfully
provokes quarrels among members and slips in the lie that church discipline
carried out according to the Word is unloving, so some remove themselves from
the Word. Doesn’t it sometimes seem like
Satan’s winning.
What
about us? How about the times the father
of lies comes to us and gets us to think that we are deserving of something
from God! How about the times he gets us
to despair as he accuses, “You are too sinful, you think God will forgive
that! How can God forgive you when your
life for him is so pitiful? You aren’t
even close to what you need to be! Give
up the fight now so you can stop all this anguish.” Doesn’t it sometimes feel like he’s
winning?
It
must have seemed that way at the time of the Reformation too - for many of the
people and for Martin Luther. The
organized church was actually withholding the Bible from the common
people. Injustice prevailed. They were taught to pray to Mary and other
saints instead of Jesus. They thought
Jesus only punished people for their sins instead of being their loving Savior,
and so they were bound so much by fear that they were willing to pony up a
hefty price for that which the papacy sold even though it cannot be sold: the
forgiveness of sins. The pure Word of
God seemed to be lost. It looked like
Satan was winning.
Yet
then, as is still the case now, in the midst of the darkness of sin the bright
light of the gospel continues to shine and God continues to fulfill the words
he spoke through John, “Then I saw
another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim.” And so, just as God promised that there will
always be faithful witnesses, people such as Martin Luther, Martin Chemnitz and
Jacob Andreae proclaimed loudly that forgiveness could not be bought but was
won for us by Jesus Christ; that the just shall live by faith; that man is
saved by faith and not by works. That
bright light of the good news of Jesus still shines today. It sheds light upon what seems to be and what
really is with words like these: “And I saw an angel [Jesus] coming down out of
heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil… 3 He
threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him” (Revelation
20:1-3). What is real is that Christ won and Satan
lost! What is real is that the Word of
God will never pass away. What is real
is that Satan cannot snatch us out of our Good Shepherd’s hands because we are
connected to Him, the vine. What is real
is that the devil is fighting a losing battle when he tries to claim those whom
God has chosen.
So
now we can, as the angel said, “Fear God
and give him glory…[and] worship him.”
We are forgiven sinners. Our fear is holy awe which results from a
contemplation of the underserved pardon that has come to us from the just and
holy God who is also the God of infinite grace.
We are blameless because of the gift which God has bestowed on us
through his Son and his atoning blood.
Jesus, before whom we stand, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world, the Lamb that was slain and has redeemed us to God by his blood,
the Lamb in whose blood our robes have been washed so they may be white. Because of what he has done for us we are
blameless. Because of the bright light
of this good news we are comforted, knowing that we will triumph.
But,
it would be dangerously careless to imply that there is now no need to be
careful and so miss the fact that there is a bright light of warning in the angel’s
words as well. A warning that fits in
with a second purpose of the book of Revelation, and that is to warn us against
falling away from Christ. While Satan
has been defeated, he still prowls around like that roaring lion seeking to
devour us. If we stray from the bright
light of God’s Word we sit as easy prey for our greatest enemy.
“Fear God,”
the angel cries, “because the hour of
judgment has come.” To the one in
sin, “fear God” is a threat, pronouncing God’s wrath for the sinner. The fear demanded in this way by the law terrifies
and paralyzes the one who recognizes his or her impending and inescapable
doom. And that is what hell is for the
sinner: impending and inescapable.
Everyone who has sinned has earned sin’s wages. “Be afraid of God,” the angel’s words say to
those in sin. But perhaps Satan’s slow
and subtle work has slipped us into a different problem now, one that trades
fear for indifference and winks at sin more easily. A problem that views this hour in God’s house
as what we do because we’ve always done it, or because mom and dad did it, instead
of viewing this time as that desperately needed visit of a dying man to God’s
emergency room. Knowing that, whether or
not we always want to go, we need to go, not for God’s good, but our own, not
because we’re healthy, but because we’re sick, not for entertainment, but for
healing. And why should we long for that
for this time? Why should we fear falling?
Has mankind changed since the first
century, since the sixteenth? Is our sin
any less sin? Is Satan any less wily or
his temptations less dangerous? Is our
mess any less putrid? Or do we rather do
harm more efficiently? Cheat more
deceptively? Gossip more rapidly –
instant messaging what we ought not say?
If the sickness is the same, ought we not tremble with the same fear
with which they trembled in the first century, in the sixteenth century, and
seek the same medicine?
By God’s grace, we, like the
Lutheran Reformers, like St. John, must always see both the horrible reality of
our sickness and the sweet face of our cure in and on the cross of Christ. Though there is no escape for the sinner,
there is a Rescuer, casting His own hand into the very fires of Hell to pull us
out. But we must leave our sins in that
fire with the devil and his crushed head, where they belong. The Rescuer only wants us. And on Calvary he stretched out his arms to
take us. By faith he has turned our
frightened fear into the grateful love and humble trust of a believer. The faith which gives God the greatest glory
he desires, by receiving the greatest gift he has given: his Son, our Savior.
Today, as we stand in the shadow of
Christ’s resurrection, we can rightly marvel at the depths from which we have
been rescued. We can rightly consider
the way of the world. Thank God for such
perception and understanding, and be sure to never lose it. And may we always bask in the bright light of
the greatest of all his gifts: His everlasting gospel in Word and Sacrament,
where he brings to us what he gave for us: the Crucified, whose wounds are our
refuge and whose words are our hope.
Amen.