Reformation Sunday, 2012 – Matthew 11:12-15
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
I am going to say something that may
upset you. It may shock you. It may even make you sad, but it is what our
Lord points out in our Gospel text on this Reformation Sunday. There are people who hate the Gospel of
Christ Jesus. There are people who seek
to do violence to Christ’s Church, who would rejoice if Christ were no longer
preached. But this is what we must know
and understand and face – the Church which proclaims Christ Crucified for the
salvation of man will always have people who wish her harm, wish her
destroyed. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. This is what Christians in a sinful world
can expect. Even the prophets of the Old
Testament were often slain. In Christ’s
day, people rejected Him – and they did violence to Him. The martyrs of the early Church went to the
lions, went to the wild beasts, were burned.
Martin Luther lived as an outlaw – the threat of his own death was over
him – because He preached the Gospel.
Many of our own ancestors fled Europe
to this country because they were hated for their own confession of
Christ. The Church on earth is called
the Church Militant not because we are violent, but because we are always under
assault from foes whom Satan stirs up – the old Evil foe indeed now means
deadly woe.
And alas, some of these people who
hate Christ and would do violence to His Church are even within the Church,
within Christendom. Over the history of
the Church, some of these Gospel-haters have even ruled, even led the Church
into places where she should not go.
Preachers of false doctrine rise up over and over. The Apostle John warns us of them over and
over in his Epistles and Revelation.
Peter marks them out, likewise Paul in his letters. And we see this played out over and over in
History. It was no vile pagan king who
called for Luther’s head – but it was the Pope, the man who had claim to be the
very head of the Church herself who wished Him silenced. In the 70s, it was not outsiders who tried to
make us abandon scripture, but several seminary professors, men who had been
entrusted with the teaching and the protecting of God’s Word – they were the
very ones who sought to destroy it. And
so on this Reformation day, we remember this fact – that the Church is under
threats both from outside herself and from within herself – threats both
foreign and domestic as it were. From the days of John the Baptist until
now the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by
force. There are always those
who would wrest the Gospel away from us.
And so we are called to be a Church that is always in Reform – that
always checks herself to make sure that she preaches only the pure sweet Gospel
of Christ and Him Crucified.
This is an unpopular idea. It is something which our sinful nature
rebels against. We think that as
Christians our lives ought to be ones that are calm, peaceful. This is something we pray for, and rightly
so. Christ Himself promises us peace,
the peace which surpasses all human understanding, the peace that can only come
from knowing and understanding that your sins have indeed been forgiven and
that you stand holy and righteous in God’s sight. This we do have. Christ indeed comes to us and brings us His
peace. However, we are here on earth,
and the world is indeed filled with all sorts of evil. We are strangers here – this house is a
island of peace in the midst of a raging sea of violence. And we as Christians, as those who are to be
in the world but not of it, as those who are to go out and love our enemies and
to pray for those who persecute us – we will be exposed to all sorts of dangers
in the world. Hear what Christ Jesus our
Lord says in Matthew Chapter 10, just a few verses prior to our Gospel. Do
not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. To the world. To the wicked and wretched. To those who reject Christ and despise His
Word – to these there is no peace, for they reject the very Prince of Peace
Himself. There are those who reject Christ
and there always will be those who reject Christ – and so in the world there is
no peace, nor will there ever be.
And this, the hatred that the world
bears our Lord can impact us. Again,
from Chapter 10. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter
against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his
own household. It’s not just
those people far, far away who hate Jesus, who rebel against Christ. Sometimes it is people very close to us. Family.
Our parents, our children, our brothers or sisters – they reject Christ,
and despise us as well. Our friends, our
neighbors – they too can put pressure on us, mock us for our beliefs, lay out
temptations to stray and fall away. And
we are tempted, we are tempted to give in to their demands – to be pleasers of
people rather than followers of Christ.
Hear what our Lord says. Whoever loves father and mother more
than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is
not worthy of me. And whoever does not
take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. This is the temptation and struggle, this is
the cross we bear – that we are called to be faithful to Christ no matter who
that upsets. And that can be hard. None of us likes to be looked down upon –
especially not by people we love and care about. But our loyalty, our highest love is to be to
God and to God alone.
This holds true not only for us as
individuals, but for the Church as a whole.
The Church herself can be tempted to fall, tempted to follow other lords
than Her Lord and Master Christ Jesus.
500 years ago was such a time – where the Church had rejected the Gospel
and instead sought earthly power and glory and respect. And thus the Reformation came about. The temptation to fall away from God’s Word
is still present today. Churches fall by
the wayside into false doctrine. We see
this to even in the Lutheran Churches.
What should be my home church – the church where my father was baptized,
where he was confirmed has fallen in the past 40 years. False doctrine is taught there now, and
slowly faith crumbles. Even for us here
at Trinity/Zion, the temptation to fall away is present. What do we at Trinity/Zion do? Do we follow the crowd, follow the world, or
do we remain true to the Word of God? Do
we turn a blind eye to sin as the world does?
Do we say, “That’s alright, live however you wish” and ignore God’s
Word? Or even with our neighboring
Christians? We are in the middle of the
Bible Belt, and most Churches around
here deny that Baptism saves. Do
talk less about Baptism in the hopes that they won’t think we are different or
weird – do we try to fit in, to look and sound like them? Or do we proclaim as Peter does in his
Epistle “Baptism. . . now saves you”? Do we seek to please men, or do we delight
in God’s promises to us? That’s the temptation – to fall away, to remain
silent, and slowly to abandon our faith.
We know the answer, we know what we
are supposed to do. We are to confess
Christ come what may. But how, how do we
find the strength to do this? How when
the eyes are upon us, when we hear the scorn, do we confess Christ? Listen to the Word of Christ from Matthew
16. “Who
do people say that the Son of Man is?”
And [the disciples] said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah,
and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you
say that I am?” Simon Peter replied,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you
Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has
not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The world says many, many things. But like Peter we are to confess that which
God has revealed to us in His Word – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
Living God. That He came down from
heaven and suffered to save us from our sin.
And against this, against this truth the world has no response. Even hell itself, even Satan and all his
legions are rendered helpless by the confession we make of Christ. We say the Creed, and Satan cowers. We pray the Lord’s Prayer and we are indeed
delivered from the Evil One.
From
the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of God
has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied
until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to
come. He who has ears, let him hear. He who has ears, let him hear. That is how we stand, dear friends. That is how we continue to confess Christ
even in these dark days where sin and war run rampant. Not because of our own strength. But because God has given us ears to hear –
in the waters of Holy Baptism God washed us clean not of dirt, but of sin and
wickedness, washed us clean of the evil which made us refuse to hear His
Word. You indeed have ears, and you hear
the Word preached and proclaimed, and this is how you live.
You see, this is the truth and wonder
– that we are reformed daily by Christ.
We are daily reformed by Christ and His Word – His Word builds us up and
restores us and our faith. The weight
of sin and temptation, the pressures of the world weigh down upon us – and
Christ come to us, and molds us back up again by His Word. When we falter and become weary, He calls us
to His table to strengthen us, to feed us on Himself. You are built up by Christ and Christ fights
for you – in fact He fights not only for you but through you. Christ takes you and builds you into His
servant – and He uses you to proclaim His truth, opens your mouth so that from
it might come His own life giving Word.
He indeed creates in you a clean heart, He renews a right spirit within
you so that you can bear your cross, so that you can fight the good fight, so
that can be bold and confess your faith in spite of all the dangers of the
world. And He does this by His almighty
Word, whether it is read or preached, whether it is tied to water and given in
Baptism, or whether it is tied to bread and wine in His Supper. The Lord gives you strength – and the
Reformation of God’s Church is not something we do – it is something that God
does to us whenever we hear His Word and cling to it.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus – the
Lord has given you ears to hear. This is
His great gift to you – that you know His truth. Cling to His Word, trust always in the truth
that you are a sinner who has been forgiven by Christ Crucified – that He has
washed you clean in Baptism and daily sustains you through His Word and
Sacrament. And whenever the world tries
to take you away from God by force, rely upon your Lord, return and flee to Him
– and He will always build and form you again into whom He wishes you to be –
His own beloved child. Amen.
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