Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

The Festival of the Lutheran Reformation

"The Heart of the Reformation"

From the First Reading of the Day: I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. [Revelation 14.6]

From the Epistle: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. [Romans 3.28]

From the Holy Gospel: The John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He has a demon." The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!. [Matthew 11.18-19]

Today we observe the minor festival known as Reformation Day, or more formally, the Festival of the Reformation. The date for this festival is October 31, for it was on the eve of All Saints’ Day that Dr. Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses on the door to the University Chapel in 1517. The posting was an invitation to debate on the abuses of indulgences. Luther was in the process of discovering the role and importance of the Gospel in the entirety of Christian knowledge and Christian need. The theses were intended to be an academic testing of his growing understanding, but they soon became the talk of the land and the beginning of the break between the Rome and those who were labeled by Pope Leo, "Luther and his fellow Lutherans."

Today, the prominence of Reformation Day is waning among those called "Evangelical Protestants." Even among Lutherans, and among US, the day has been demoted from the date of the observance to the Sunday before the actual date – Reformation Sunday, instead of Reformation Day – in order to have anyone even gather to observe it. This is sad, but probably it could be expected, because Reformation Day observes the beginning time in church history that the Western Church of Christ becomes fractured. And focusing on differences is not polite in our day.

Today, regardless of the day on which we observe Reformation Day, transferred. And we mark what is "The Heart of the Reformation."

I.

An Old Testament of the Day is replaced by a First lesson of the Day, for it comes from the last book of the New Testament, The Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John, as the first verse of the text puts it. In the Lesson read to you, St. John has a vision of an angel flying overhead with a message, a gospel as the text puts it. This gospel – the message of essential and good news – is intended to be proclaimed, to be proclaimed to everyone who dwells on earth. The Gospel of which the church speaks – and more importantly, the Gospel which the church proclaims – is the great and central message of Christianity. It is therefore the heart of the Church’s message. Luther, at the posting of the 95 Theses coming to understand this.

Many of those who came to join the movement caused by the sound of a hammer on a church door never fully grasped Luther’s discovery, or rather, Luther’s recovery. This is why "Protestantism" is not the same as Lutheranism, and Protestant Churches do not have the same Gospel as does the Lutheran Church when she stands with Luther’s real discovery.

Now, that sounds very judgmental. It is a judgment, and it is a sound judgment. But in today’s world any such conclusion, sound or not, is an offense to public ears. Sorry about that! It still is the truth!

It is the truth because when the Gospel ceases to be God’s ultimate Word to you, when it is repositioned as a first word, as a necessary word, but not as God’s final, ultimate, and essential Word, before which every other religious word or teaching must give way, then Luther’s recovery is again lost. The angel’s purpose remains the same today as in St. John’s vision: the Gospel is eternal, it is conclusive, it is final, it is ultimate. Or, to put it differently, the Gospel is the heart of God’s Word, without which – not just once, not just as a part of a larger message – the Word of God is heartless.

II.

What is this Gospel? St Paul pens its truthful message in the Epistle: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law." The righteousness of God is no longer correctly understood as God’s essential justice, an ultimate demand of God, that you fulfill the Law of God, completely and continually. The righteousness of God is now the announcement, the proclamation of a gift from God. The phrase, "righteousness of God" no longer just a description of His character – "God is righteous!" It is now a proclamation of His gift! "But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe it." The righteousness of God is now ultimately and essentially God’s gift to a fallen world, in and through Christ Jesus. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Thus, it is St. Paul, and not just a monk named Luther, who declares: "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law."

The message of a gracious God was not unknown at the time of the Reformation. It’s just that this graciousness taught as only experienced by those who have, certainly by God’s aid, achieved saintly perfection. The Western Church, in Luther’s day, taught the formula: Grace plus works achieved salvation. And when the Reformation was in full bloom, most of the protesting churches had "gone beyond" Luther and his fellow Lutherans. Even today you hear it, "Luther was good, but he didn’t go far enough." And what was this going beyond that is still alive today? It was a change, but not a rejection, of the formula of Medieval Rome, with a twist: "Grace plus works doesn’t achieve salvation – it achieves the Christian life!" The Gospel kick starts it, and the Gospel gives it a boost, but the Christian life is again the Grace plus works. THAT is why it is true that the "Evangelical-Protestants" have a different Gospel.

III.

But what is it that orthodox, confessional, Reformational Lutheran teach? It is that the Christian life is "repentance and believing the Gospel." The Christian life is Christ alone! Christ is the one true Christian, and all who, in repentance, cling to Him are righteous in Him. This clinging is not an act, it is an attitude, it is a banking on what Christ has done for all my righteousness.

This clinging is a constant recognizing that the Law condemns me, today as in day one of my life; and that being recognized, the clinging is a constant hearing that I am forgiven because of a payment, not because God says, "Hey, no problem!" And this payment is Christ’s suffering and death. It is His body broken and His blood shed – for me, the sinner! This clinging is banking on that sacrifice. Period! End of proclamation!

Of course, this is a constant flow of awareness that God’s great mercy and forgiveness is true for me because it is true for everyone, everywhere. And it also not only keeps my united with Christ, but it infects my thoughts, words, and actions, bringing for glimmers of Christ, glimmers of my new status with Christ. That glimmering is what is rightly called "Christian Growth," and "The Christian Life." Any other understanding of the Christian life is a different Gospel. And sadly, this is not just a theological difference of opinion. It is the essential point for finding peace in Christ. The Gospel is God’s ultimate Word for me, for you, for every nation! It is the heart of the Reformation!"