Reformation Sunday
“Freedom—To Do What God Wants Us To!”
October 27, 2002
Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Lessons: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ps. 46; Romans 3:19-28; St. John 8:31-36
In a scene from the film, Martin Luther: Heretic, the good doctor of theology is shown trying to instruct his students about the freedom of the gospel. He is a professor at the University of Wittenberg in Germany, and is teaching the students about the meaning of “repentance”. Luther shows them the Latin, which is translated as, “do penance”. This suggests that forgiveness requires actions on our part, as in doing penance, to earn forgiveness. Luther points out, however, that the Greek, metanoia, actually means, “to have a change of heart, or mind.” Repentance, Luther says, is not our outward actions to earn God’s grace, but an inward transformation of mind and heart, worked by the Holy Spirit in us. At that point, a student objects, asking, “You mean we don’t have to do anything to be a Christian, just believe in our hearts?” “That’s right”, answers Luther. “Then, we can do whatever we want”, responds another student. “Yes,” agrees Luther, “But the important question is, What do you want to do?”
Yes, what do we want to do? Every year as we read the appointed Gospel text for Reformation Sunday, we are faced with the same struggle, the same dilemma, the same questions as those first students of Martin Luther some 500 years ago. Jesus says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free!” And we respond, “We will be made free?” We ask, does that mean, truly free? And does that mean we don’t have to do anything to be a Christian, just believe in our hearts? Then, we can do whatever we want? Yes, Dr. Luther responds, in the film—but, ask yourselves, “What do you want to do?”
Well, we might answer, we want to do many things! We want to live our lives free of any burden. We want to live happily, without a care in the world. We want to have all we need to eat, and to drink, and we want money—enough to do everything we want. Is that what you mean, Dr. Luther—when you ask, “What do you want to do?”
That’s certainly what Luther’s getting at, when he asks that question. Because when we start to think about what WE want, we begin to see that may not be what God wants, for us. And that’s where the difficulty comes in. And that’s what Luther is trying to get us to see. That Jesus Christ has set us free—but free to do God’s will, and not our own! Luther’s lifelong struggle was to try to get Christians to understand that the freedom of the Gospel doesn’t free us to do whatever we want, but what God’s wants. With the hope that sooner or later, we will actually begin to want what God wants. That we will begin to want to do, what God wants us to. That’s how the Gospel is supposed to work. That’s what the Holy Spirit revealed to Luther, through the Scriptures. That’s what Luther preached and taught. And did those first students in Luther’s classroom get it? Did the Wittenbergers to whom Luther preached day in and day out in the parish church, get it? It seems, unfortunately, not. It seems that Luther came to feel that the Reformation had been a failure—and the failure had nothing to do with the pope or with liturgical reform, but with the lives of the people.
At the beginning of the Reformation,
Luther sincerely believed that if individual Christians would hear the good
news of the gospel, that they are saved by grace, through faith in Jesus
Christ, they would feel freed from the burdens and demands of the Roman
religious system. Luther believed that
once Christians understood that salvation was given them, as a gift, not as a
reward for fulfilling requirements, their grateful hearts would be transformed,
they would repent willingly, come to mass faithfully, and live according to the
will of God, not because they were required to, but because they wanted to! Luther’s fervent belief was that the Gospel
would bring about a true transformation in the hearts and lives of Christians,
that would then transform the Church, and the world. Luther’s real life experience proved to him that in spite of the
truth of the Gospel, the sinfulness and disobedience of humans would
continually fight against the Gospel, preferring to do, not what God wanted,
but only what they wanted. In fact,
Luther was so frustrated and disappointed with the actions of his Wittenberg
congregation that twice, he went on “preaching strikes”, refusing to preach to
the people because of their unwillingness to live disciplined lives. On January 1, 1530, Luther informed his
congregation that he was going to discontinue preaching to them because of
their ingratitude and disobedience. He
said now that attending the worship service was no longer a requirement, but
was supposed to be a wonderful opportunity to hear God’s word in evangelical
freedom, attendance had dropped off.
The selfish abuse of Christian freedom caused such a genuine
disappointment in Luther that he said, “I don’t want to be the shepherd of such
pigs.” Luther exhorted the parishioners
saying deeds had to correspond with the rich recognition of the Gospel. The people could not have experienced God’s
mercy if they were not motivated to act accordingly. He said finally, “You absolutely unthankful beasts, unworthy of
the Gospel; if you do not repent, I
will stop preaching to you!” And
indeed, he did. Not once, but
twice. In 1530, for almost a year, and
in July and August, 1545, returning only when ordered to by his elector, Prince
John Frederick.
And does this mean that Luther was wrong about the Gospel? Does this suggest that Luther misunderstood the freedom of the Christian? Does this mean that it’s not grace, but works, that saves, and drives Christians to the cross of Christ?
It doesn’t mean that at all! It simply means that the forces at work against Jesus Christ and His followers, are more powerful and active than we can imagine. And it means that we disciples must be clear about what it means to be saved and to be freed by the Son. We must be clear that being set free, doesn’t mean we are free to do whatever we want. We must be clear that being a disciple leads to discipline—to worshiping God faithfully on Sunday morning, to giving selflessly to support the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, to immersing ourselves in the Word of God, to having God’s law within us, written on our hearts, if you will. We must be clear that we are free to do what we want, so long as what we want, is what God wants!
As the pastor and preacher of this congregation for 16 years, I have never come to the point where I have been so frustrated and disappointed by the response of our members, that I have been tempted to go on a “preaching strike”—as if you are unworthy of the Word of God. And yet, I must admit, we’re not close to being the “evangelical and catholic” parish that Luther envisioned, or that we envision. Because we are not yet, responding freely, generously, thankfully, sacrificially, with hearts truly transformed by the great, amazing, life-changing good news of salvation in and through Jesus Christ! When we experience the depths of God’s mercy and kindness, as Luther said, we can’t help but act accordingly. God’s plan is to overpower us with His love, manifested for us in the death of His own Son on the cross, for us and for our salvation. God’s plan is to so love us, that our hearts and lives are touched and transformed, so that we will choose to do His will, and seek His ways. God’s plan is to give us the gift of salvation, so that the magnitude of that gift will warm our hearts, drive us to our knees, and cause us to pray, “Thy will be done, Father, in my life!” I can’t speak for other parishes, but we know, we’re not there yet. We know that we struggle with lukewarm faith, with freedom that we take to be license, with a lack of discipline in our spiritual lives. We know that we are greedy, selfish, and ungrateful to God. We know that. But we also know, as St. Paul proclaims, that we are justified by God’s grace, as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We also know that God put Jesus forward for us, to be a sacrifice of atonement by His blood, to be effective for us, through faith. We also know that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by law—and it is that, freedom, that we will continue to try to put into practice in our day to day lives, by living as God wants us to live. By wanting what God wants. By striving to be Christ-like, in all that we think, say, and do. By seeking to live in our Gospel-freedom, by being disciplined, obedient, committed disciples, of Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father, who has set us free, so that we will be free, indeed!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen