Reformation Day
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle B
Object:
Theme of the Day
Freedom!
Collect of the Day
Two options are available. In the first, after noting that the Holy Spirit renews the church in every age, petitions are offered that the Spirit be poured on God's faithful people, keeping them steadfast in His word, protecting and comforting them in time of trial, defending them against all enemies of the gospel, and bestowing saving peace on the church. The doctrines of the Holy Spirit, church, and Sanctification are emphasized. The alternative petitions that the holy Catholic church be filled with all truth and peace, purified where corrupt, directed where in error, reformed where amiss, strengthened where it is right, and reunited where divided. There is a prayer about the church and God's grace.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 46
* A Korah Psalm celebrating God's victory over the nations. The Psalm (esp. v. 1) inspired Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress."
* God is said to be our refuge and strength, a present help in trouble. We need not fear (vv. 1-3).
* The promise is made that Jerusalem will endure forever (vv. 4-7). John Calvin understood these references to be about God providing security for the church (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. IV/1, p. 563).
* The establishment of God's kingdom will bring peace (vv. 8-9).
* We are urged to be still and know that the Lord is God (v. 10). These words may have been a divine oracle of salvation, giving God's observance of help against enemies.
Sermon Text and Title
"A New Identity"
Jeremiah 31:31-34
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the joyful and good news of the new identity which the new covenant established by Christ's work affords (Justification by Grace and Sanctification as spontaneous good works). The confidence and peace of mind that having such an identity affords are celebrated.
2. Exegesis
* See the Exegesis for the First Lesson for Lent 5.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* See Theological Insights for the First Lesson for Lent 5.
* See the last bullet point in this section for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2, for a clear articulation of why the new identity of Christians leads to good works.
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the First Lesson for Lent 5.
* In our narcissist ethos a preoccupation with identity or the quest for self-consciousness and finding ourselves is a consuming passion for many Americans. (See Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, pp. 177-179; David Frum, How We Got Here: The 70s. especially pp. 70ff.)
5. Gimmick
At the heart of the reformation is the idea that Christians are free. What does all this talk in Jeremiah about a new heart and a new mind have to do with freedom and the reformation?
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Got to find myself. I need to know who I am, my identity. That's the mantra of the baby boomers, if not the generations born since the 1960s. See the second bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* Elaborate on how all-consuming this quest for identity is, how it cuts us off from others and becomes a burden. Unsure of who we are, we make the job a place for finding ourselves. The quest leads to midlife crises, most evident in prioritizing this quest over long-term commitments like parenting or marriage. Author Gail Sheehy wrote a book, Passages, which became a mantra for this quest: "Let go," she advises. "You are moving out of roles and into the self" (p. 364).
* This focus on finding ourselves leads Americans to be uncertain of what they want. We must define our own "values," we say. Ask the congregation what their values are. That is the problem: How do you define your values?
* In his best-seller of the later 1980s, Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah introduced us to Silicon Valley Ted Oster. He does not believe in rigid morality but in enjoying life, a big pinball game in which you have to be able to move and adjust in order to enjoy it. Thus your values need to be fluid, adding to the enjoyment. Values are all that maintain the self; they provide no contact with what is good for others or society. We are trapped by ourselves. Be careful of what you're getting the next time you talk about your "values."
* Consider the fourth bullet point of the Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Pentecost 9. Our quest for an identity traps us. As nothing more than our personal preferences, our values don't define us. Isolated in our values, those of the broader society begin to define us, so that contrary to our intentions we readily become puppets of the media and the cultural elite in our choices. That sounds like America today. We don't know who we are. [Repeat phrase here and wherever appropriate for rhetorical flourish.] We need a reformation.
* The reformation word of freedom, our First Lesson talks about the new identity God has given us. Jeremiah proclaims the Lord's word: Read verses 33b-34.
* To say that the law is written on the heart is to say that God defines who we are. The Hebrew word leb is a term that refers to the seat of all human activities, both reason and emotion. God, Jeremiah says, has written the law in us in this way. The real us wants to do good, wants be faithful, and be forgiven (vv. 34-35). There is no need to find ourselves. As a free gift of God, we know who we are! We do not have to become that person who keeps the law, who is faithful, but who does not become a child of God. God's already done that to us. This is what the reformation was all about.
* This insight takes the pressure off. There are no more uncertainties about who we are; no more time needs to be wasted in agony about finding out these things. Even doing good is not burdensome. We've been made people who can't help but bear fruit and who can't help but do good. (See the last bullet point of Theological Insights for First Lesson, Lent 5.)
* Having an identity even gets you away from yourself. We are most truly ourselves, it seems, when we are not so hung up on ourselves and our identity. On this matter, the great American theologian of the last century Reinhold Niebuhr wrote: "We do not become unselfish by saying so. But thank God, there are forces in life and in history that draw us out of ourselves and make us truly ourselves. This is grace…" (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
* When you know who you are, you don't need to work so hard finding yourself. And that frees you up from having to clarify for yourself what you should be doing in life. Actor Richard Grant said it well: "The value of identity of course is that so often it comes with a purpose."
* Having an identity like we do changes life. So said the German novelist Thomas Mann: "No one remains what he was when he recognizes himself."
* There are times in our lives when we lose our way. At these times we need to be reminded who we are. The reformation word is that we know who we are -- people who love God's law, who want to do good, who want to believe, who are forgiven. What a freeing word!
7. Wrap-Up
America needs this word, confused as most of us are about what life is for, about who we are. The reformation word of God's unconditional love or our new identity is an important witness to make. It is one of God's good gifts given to us and to the world that we have a new identity and that we know who we are.
Sermon Text and Title
"How Can We Find a Righteous God?"
Romans 3:19-28
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To instruct the congregation on the reformation concept of the righteousness of God and external righteousness (Justification by Grace understood as Forensic Justification) and to celebrate this freeing, liberating word.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* A transition from Paul's discussion of the world's need for redemption to a discussion of God's saving act in Christ.
* The law of God silences us, for no human may be justified by works. The law gives knowledge of sin (vv. 19-20).
* The righteousness of God is revealed apart from the law, though it is attested to by the law and the prophets (v. 21).
* Paul refers here to the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. There is no distinction, since all have sinned but are now justified by God's grace as a gift (vv. 22-24a).
* This transpires through Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by His blood. This shows God's righteousness, because in His forbearance He passed over sins committed (vv. 24b-25). This proves that God Himself is righteous, justifying the one who has faith in Christ (v. 26).
* This excludes boasting. For a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law (vv. 27-28).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The text affords opportunity to understand the Pauline/Reformation concept of the righteousness of God and external righteousness (Justification by Grace) as well as a Satisfaction Theory of the atonement and freedom from the law.
* Martin Luther nicely outlined the importance of the righteousness of God and how his new reformation insight about it being a passive righteousness received from God changed his life:
For I hated the words "righteousness of God," which, according to the use of custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner… At last… I began to understand the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 34, pp. 336-337)
* Earlier Luther noted that works do not justify any more than a monkey who might imitate certain human actions can be said to do good deeds. These deeds would only be human if perpetrated by a human being, so only those whom God made righteous can do righteous deeds (Luther's Works, Vol. 25, p. 235):
God does not want to redeem us through our own, but through external righteousness… A true Christian must have no glory of his own and must to such an extent be stripped of everything he calls his own….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 25, pp. 136-137)
* Luther points out why we so badly need this word of forgiveness: "The consciousness that God is angry and that He is an irate judge of sin is innate in the human heart… In such circumstances it is impossible for man to be happy" (Luther's Works, Vol. 22, p. 375).
* John Calvin claimed that to be in Christ is to be out of ourselves. God buries our sins (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, p. 136): "… for God by no means keeps His riches laid up in Himself, but pours them forth upon men" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, p. 146).
* Although not developed in this sermon, it might also be possible, in accord with much New Testament scholarship, to understand the righteousness of God as a faithfulness of God to His promises, and that God has been doing this throughout history. See the affirmation of Justification by Faith by the Jews sixty years prior to Christ's birth in Habakkuk 2:4, which is why God is righteous in not imposing the law on the Gentiles (He has not essentially changed) (Krister Sendahl, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles, pp. 78ff).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See this section of the Gospel, Pentecost 2, and the first bullet point of the Second Lesson, Pentecost 2, for American disbelief of this reformation word.
5. Gimmick
Another Reformation day. Elders in the congregation have lived through a lot more reformation sermons than many of the rest of us, perhaps more than the preacher. What's new? Ask the congregation if they are clear what led Luther to the reform.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Perhaps the congregation already knows that the Reformation began on October 31, 1517, with Martin Luther's posting of the Ninety-Five Theses protesting abuses in the Catholic church, with special reference to how these abuses undermined the Pauline teaching of Justification by Grace through Faith. Less well known is why Justification by Grace became so crucial for Luther and how he came to his fresh insight. It had to do with what his studies offered him concerning what to make of the righteousness of God.
* The dominant view of the righteousness of God in the time when Luther was writing was to regard the righteousness of God as a quality of God that demands righteousness of people. It was equated with justice. A just God demands the death of sinners. But sometime before 1517, while working on his lectures, the young professor and monk had a new insight about this idea. Use the quote in the second bullet point of Theological Insights.
* Luther called this view of God's righteousness the most important insight of the Reformation. The idea that God is righteous in making us righteous impacts our justification. In justification we are made righteous. So God is righteous, not because He had the quality of righteousness or justice. He is righteous because of what He does, making us righteous. And in making us righteous He justifies us.
* How does it happen? By grace through faith, not by what we do. The righteousness by which we are justified is not our own righteousness. It's God's righteousness. He covers us with it. In this sense it's an external righteousness. This is the heart of the Reformation.
* So what? What's the big deal? Works, what we do, are not the cause of justification. Use the third bullet point of Theological Insights.
* The Christian has no glory of his or her own and is stripped of all pretensions of saving himself or herself.
* Oh, how we need this word today. Most Americans don't believe this (even though they say they do). (Cite the data referred to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.) Though a majority Protestant nation, most Americans believe that we can contribute to our salvation by our works. Sometimes they do it subtly by affirming Justification by Faith, but they make faith a kind of work that we do in order to earn salvation. Could this be related in part to the fact that the old medieval view of God's righteousness continues to be preached in our Protestant congregations? This is why we need to get clear on this reformation idea. The dominant view of the American population makes salvation uncertain, as we never can be sure if we have done enough works or had a good-enough faith.
* You can't make that affirmation when you understand Justification as an external righteousness. External in what sense? Consider the image of the law court. (Forensic Justification is now explained.) We are guilty of criminal acts (sin). We have done the crime and deserve the time. But the Judge (God) declares us not guilty. He says his Son has taken the penalty for us. As a result, though guilty of criminal behavior, we are innocent (righteous) in the eyes of the (divine) law. And just as once it is pronounced the innocence of the defendant is indubitable in the eyes of the civil law, so our innocence is now indubitable since God has decreed it!
* Invite the congregation to contemplate the wonderful news. Consider the fourth and fifth bullet points of Theological Insights. Uncertain as we may often be of our salvation, now we have received all of God's riches. We are somebodies! We are valuable to God! We are righteous (albeit in the sense that God looks at us that way despite our hang-ups).
* Invite the congregation members to reflect on what they may not like about themselves. List some negative characteristics (lack of good looks, intelligence, compassion, success, faith). The reformation word says those shortcomings, those things don't matter. You are forgiven, are righteous. You really are somebody! You don't need to find a righteous, forgiving God. You've got One!
7. Wrap-Up
The reformation word is a great word of confidence and comfort. It's a freeing word -- because it sets us free from hang-ups and doubts, sets us free to live and to serve. Another reformation? There is no way, if we understand its message, that we can ever again take it for granted. In fact, we might want to celebrate its precious, liberating word every day. We might find life a lot more carefree if we did.
Sermon Text and Title
"Freedom"
John 8:31-36
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To extol and teach the revolutionary and comforting concept of Christian freedom (Sanctification construed as the spontaneity of good works), with a reference to Justification as Intimate Union. Attention is also given to Social Ethics.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Jesus had been proclaiming Himself as one from above, perhaps a prophecy of His ascension (vv. 21-30). He proclaims to Jews who had believed in Him that if they continue in His word they are truly His disciples (v. 31). The truth will make them free (v. 32).
* The Jews contending that as descendants of Abraham, they have never been slaves (v. 33). Jesus responds, claiming that any who sin are slaves to sin (v. 34). Only the Son makes one free (v. 36).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* An examination of Christian freedom (Sanctification as the spontaneity of good works) with a reference to Justification as Intimate Union.
* Martin Luther sees the fragility of faith taught in Jesus' remarks in verse 31. He wrote: "People would gladly believe in Christ if this could make them lords or confer kingdoms on them… Fidelity to Christ's doctrine is rare, especially when people encounter an evil wind" (Luther's Works, Vol. 23, p. 393).
* Luther offers interesting reflections on the nature of our bondage to sin, how and why we can't stop sinning (v. 34): "The world is like a drunken peasant. If you lift him into the saddle on one side, he will fall off on the other side. One can't help him no matter how one tries" (Luther's Works, Vol. 54, p. 111).
* This point was made more starkly by Luther's bishop at the time of the reformation, Albert of Mainz: "I know very well that without God's grace there is nothing good in me, and that I am as much a piece of useless, stinking s**t as anyone else, if not more" (reported in Heiko Oberman, Luther, p. 108).
* The freedom Christ has provided Christians is powerfully described by Rudolf Bultmann:
Faith includes free and complete openness to the future… [It is] freedom from the past, because it is faith in the forgiveness of sins; it is freedom for the enslaving chains of the past. It is freedom from ourselves as the old selves, and for ourselves as the new selves.
(Jesus Christ and Mythology, pp. 77-78)
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer elaborated on the social implications of this reformation word of freedom:
The person who loves, because he is freed through the truth of God, is the most revolutionary person on earth. He is the One who upsets all values; He is the explosive in human society. Such a one is the most dangerous person. For He has recognized that people are untruthful in the extreme, and He is ready at any time, and just for the sake of love, to permit the light of truth to fall on them.
(A Testament to Freedom, p. 217)
* Consider the implications for understanding Christian freedom in the third-to-last bullet point in this section for the Second Lesson, Lent 4; all the quotes by Martin Luther in this section for the Second Lesson, Lent 2; and all the bullet points in this section for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2.
* Luther spoke of Christian freedom elsewhere with reference to Sabbath commemoration: "Therefore every Christian too is lord over the Sabbath, rather than over all human commandments, teachings, and ordinances" (Luther's Works, Vol. 36, p. 240).
* The first Reformer also expounded on the implications of such freedom for a situational ethic: "Thus in wars the saints frequently deceived their enemies, but those are lies one is permitted to use in the service of God against the devil and the enemies of God" (Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 150).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See First Lesson.
* A 2009 Barna Group survey revealed that most American Christians define spirituality legalistically (as obeying the Bible's rules).
* A 2008 survey of college students revealed that 1 in 4 agreed with most items characteristic of narcissism (Jean Twegne and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic). That these values would permeate the worldview of a significant number of late Generation X-ers and the Millenniums is hardly surprising in view of the media values with which they grew up, the narcissism celebrated in such hits as Jersey Shore, The Bad Girls Club, and Sex in the City.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 32.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Freedom is such a good word. On this subject, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote: "… a denial of freedom to an individual is a denial of life itself, the very character of the life of man demands freedom" (A Testament of Hope, p. 119). He did insist, though, that there are limits to freedom, limits given by God (Ibid., p. 120).
* How are we set free? Free from sin, Jesus says (v. 34). And in our Second Lesson, Paul teaches our freedom from the law (Romans 3:19-20). Cite the third and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights to stress how sinful we are, unable to do good apart from grace.
* Our sins are forgiven. Our works do not matter when it comes to salvation. But won't that lead to cheap grace, to the lessening of Christian responsibility?
* This critique is one commonly issued against reformation thinking. But with Martin Luther King Jr. we can say that's hogwash. The freedom the reformers taught, the freedom God has given us, is not a "do what you please" without limits.
* Let's see how reformers carefully affirmed how Christian freedom leads to good works. Consider: (1) The third and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights for Second Lesson, Epiphany 2; (2) The fourth bullet point for the Second Lesson, Lent 2.
* Interestingly, the great American theologian of the last century, Reinhold Niebuhr, essentially contended that real freedom liberates us from our insidious preoccupation with ourselves: "We do not become unselfish by saying so. But thank God, there are forces in life and in history that draw us out of ourselves and make us truly ourselves. This is grace…" (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
* The freedom of the gospel gets us free from ourselves. It also gets us free from the chains of the past. (See the fifth bullet point of Theological Insights.) Invite the congregation to consider how often we fail to take up a new activity either because we feel inadequate to undertake it (are in bondage to ourselves) or have failed in a similar undertaking in the past (and so are chained by the past). Give examples in congregational or community life. With elections upcoming, these points could be cited to rebut claims concerning the alleged futility of negotiations with the enemy or of seeking to alleviate poverty on grounds that efforts like this previously have failed or on grounds that people are flawed.
* Cite the Bonhoeffer quote in Theological Insights on how the free Christian is dangerous insofar as one who is free upsets existing values and is ready to function prophetically (permitting the light of truth to fall on all). The free man and woman will not allow the injustices in our society to go unchallenged.
* But freedom in Christ is no burden. It is like the freedom we experience in a good marriage; see the fifth bullet point of Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Epiphany 2.
* Happily married couples are never freer than in the company of their spouses (just as children with good relations with parents can be themselves more readily in the midst of parental love than anywhere else). Yet in these relationships, a lot of loving things, a lot of good deeds happen without the parties even thinking about them. In these relationships we even begin to take on some of the good qualities of those we love. Married to Christ as we have been, Christians without recognizing it freely and joyfully begin taking on some of Christ's characteristics, like love, selfless service, openness to the future, and being a person dangerous to society's status quo. Free people are a force to be reckoned with.
7. Wrap-Up
Freedom is indeed a compelling, joyful reality, one filled with joyful service. How good to be a free reformation Christian in love, loved by our Lord with His unconditional, freeing love.
Freedom!
Collect of the Day
Two options are available. In the first, after noting that the Holy Spirit renews the church in every age, petitions are offered that the Spirit be poured on God's faithful people, keeping them steadfast in His word, protecting and comforting them in time of trial, defending them against all enemies of the gospel, and bestowing saving peace on the church. The doctrines of the Holy Spirit, church, and Sanctification are emphasized. The alternative petitions that the holy Catholic church be filled with all truth and peace, purified where corrupt, directed where in error, reformed where amiss, strengthened where it is right, and reunited where divided. There is a prayer about the church and God's grace.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 46
* A Korah Psalm celebrating God's victory over the nations. The Psalm (esp. v. 1) inspired Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress."
* God is said to be our refuge and strength, a present help in trouble. We need not fear (vv. 1-3).
* The promise is made that Jerusalem will endure forever (vv. 4-7). John Calvin understood these references to be about God providing security for the church (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. IV/1, p. 563).
* The establishment of God's kingdom will bring peace (vv. 8-9).
* We are urged to be still and know that the Lord is God (v. 10). These words may have been a divine oracle of salvation, giving God's observance of help against enemies.
Sermon Text and Title
"A New Identity"
Jeremiah 31:31-34
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the joyful and good news of the new identity which the new covenant established by Christ's work affords (Justification by Grace and Sanctification as spontaneous good works). The confidence and peace of mind that having such an identity affords are celebrated.
2. Exegesis
* See the Exegesis for the First Lesson for Lent 5.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* See Theological Insights for the First Lesson for Lent 5.
* See the last bullet point in this section for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2, for a clear articulation of why the new identity of Christians leads to good works.
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the First Lesson for Lent 5.
* In our narcissist ethos a preoccupation with identity or the quest for self-consciousness and finding ourselves is a consuming passion for many Americans. (See Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, pp. 177-179; David Frum, How We Got Here: The 70s. especially pp. 70ff.)
5. Gimmick
At the heart of the reformation is the idea that Christians are free. What does all this talk in Jeremiah about a new heart and a new mind have to do with freedom and the reformation?
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Got to find myself. I need to know who I am, my identity. That's the mantra of the baby boomers, if not the generations born since the 1960s. See the second bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* Elaborate on how all-consuming this quest for identity is, how it cuts us off from others and becomes a burden. Unsure of who we are, we make the job a place for finding ourselves. The quest leads to midlife crises, most evident in prioritizing this quest over long-term commitments like parenting or marriage. Author Gail Sheehy wrote a book, Passages, which became a mantra for this quest: "Let go," she advises. "You are moving out of roles and into the self" (p. 364).
* This focus on finding ourselves leads Americans to be uncertain of what they want. We must define our own "values," we say. Ask the congregation what their values are. That is the problem: How do you define your values?
* In his best-seller of the later 1980s, Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah introduced us to Silicon Valley Ted Oster. He does not believe in rigid morality but in enjoying life, a big pinball game in which you have to be able to move and adjust in order to enjoy it. Thus your values need to be fluid, adding to the enjoyment. Values are all that maintain the self; they provide no contact with what is good for others or society. We are trapped by ourselves. Be careful of what you're getting the next time you talk about your "values."
* Consider the fourth bullet point of the Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Pentecost 9. Our quest for an identity traps us. As nothing more than our personal preferences, our values don't define us. Isolated in our values, those of the broader society begin to define us, so that contrary to our intentions we readily become puppets of the media and the cultural elite in our choices. That sounds like America today. We don't know who we are. [Repeat phrase here and wherever appropriate for rhetorical flourish.] We need a reformation.
* The reformation word of freedom, our First Lesson talks about the new identity God has given us. Jeremiah proclaims the Lord's word: Read verses 33b-34.
* To say that the law is written on the heart is to say that God defines who we are. The Hebrew word leb is a term that refers to the seat of all human activities, both reason and emotion. God, Jeremiah says, has written the law in us in this way. The real us wants to do good, wants be faithful, and be forgiven (vv. 34-35). There is no need to find ourselves. As a free gift of God, we know who we are! We do not have to become that person who keeps the law, who is faithful, but who does not become a child of God. God's already done that to us. This is what the reformation was all about.
* This insight takes the pressure off. There are no more uncertainties about who we are; no more time needs to be wasted in agony about finding out these things. Even doing good is not burdensome. We've been made people who can't help but bear fruit and who can't help but do good. (See the last bullet point of Theological Insights for First Lesson, Lent 5.)
* Having an identity even gets you away from yourself. We are most truly ourselves, it seems, when we are not so hung up on ourselves and our identity. On this matter, the great American theologian of the last century Reinhold Niebuhr wrote: "We do not become unselfish by saying so. But thank God, there are forces in life and in history that draw us out of ourselves and make us truly ourselves. This is grace…" (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
* When you know who you are, you don't need to work so hard finding yourself. And that frees you up from having to clarify for yourself what you should be doing in life. Actor Richard Grant said it well: "The value of identity of course is that so often it comes with a purpose."
* Having an identity like we do changes life. So said the German novelist Thomas Mann: "No one remains what he was when he recognizes himself."
* There are times in our lives when we lose our way. At these times we need to be reminded who we are. The reformation word is that we know who we are -- people who love God's law, who want to do good, who want to believe, who are forgiven. What a freeing word!
7. Wrap-Up
America needs this word, confused as most of us are about what life is for, about who we are. The reformation word of God's unconditional love or our new identity is an important witness to make. It is one of God's good gifts given to us and to the world that we have a new identity and that we know who we are.
Sermon Text and Title
"How Can We Find a Righteous God?"
Romans 3:19-28
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To instruct the congregation on the reformation concept of the righteousness of God and external righteousness (Justification by Grace understood as Forensic Justification) and to celebrate this freeing, liberating word.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* A transition from Paul's discussion of the world's need for redemption to a discussion of God's saving act in Christ.
* The law of God silences us, for no human may be justified by works. The law gives knowledge of sin (vv. 19-20).
* The righteousness of God is revealed apart from the law, though it is attested to by the law and the prophets (v. 21).
* Paul refers here to the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. There is no distinction, since all have sinned but are now justified by God's grace as a gift (vv. 22-24a).
* This transpires through Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by His blood. This shows God's righteousness, because in His forbearance He passed over sins committed (vv. 24b-25). This proves that God Himself is righteous, justifying the one who has faith in Christ (v. 26).
* This excludes boasting. For a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law (vv. 27-28).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The text affords opportunity to understand the Pauline/Reformation concept of the righteousness of God and external righteousness (Justification by Grace) as well as a Satisfaction Theory of the atonement and freedom from the law.
* Martin Luther nicely outlined the importance of the righteousness of God and how his new reformation insight about it being a passive righteousness received from God changed his life:
For I hated the words "righteousness of God," which, according to the use of custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner… At last… I began to understand the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 34, pp. 336-337)
* Earlier Luther noted that works do not justify any more than a monkey who might imitate certain human actions can be said to do good deeds. These deeds would only be human if perpetrated by a human being, so only those whom God made righteous can do righteous deeds (Luther's Works, Vol. 25, p. 235):
God does not want to redeem us through our own, but through external righteousness… A true Christian must have no glory of his own and must to such an extent be stripped of everything he calls his own….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 25, pp. 136-137)
* Luther points out why we so badly need this word of forgiveness: "The consciousness that God is angry and that He is an irate judge of sin is innate in the human heart… In such circumstances it is impossible for man to be happy" (Luther's Works, Vol. 22, p. 375).
* John Calvin claimed that to be in Christ is to be out of ourselves. God buries our sins (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, p. 136): "… for God by no means keeps His riches laid up in Himself, but pours them forth upon men" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, p. 146).
* Although not developed in this sermon, it might also be possible, in accord with much New Testament scholarship, to understand the righteousness of God as a faithfulness of God to His promises, and that God has been doing this throughout history. See the affirmation of Justification by Faith by the Jews sixty years prior to Christ's birth in Habakkuk 2:4, which is why God is righteous in not imposing the law on the Gentiles (He has not essentially changed) (Krister Sendahl, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles, pp. 78ff).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See this section of the Gospel, Pentecost 2, and the first bullet point of the Second Lesson, Pentecost 2, for American disbelief of this reformation word.
5. Gimmick
Another Reformation day. Elders in the congregation have lived through a lot more reformation sermons than many of the rest of us, perhaps more than the preacher. What's new? Ask the congregation if they are clear what led Luther to the reform.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Perhaps the congregation already knows that the Reformation began on October 31, 1517, with Martin Luther's posting of the Ninety-Five Theses protesting abuses in the Catholic church, with special reference to how these abuses undermined the Pauline teaching of Justification by Grace through Faith. Less well known is why Justification by Grace became so crucial for Luther and how he came to his fresh insight. It had to do with what his studies offered him concerning what to make of the righteousness of God.
* The dominant view of the righteousness of God in the time when Luther was writing was to regard the righteousness of God as a quality of God that demands righteousness of people. It was equated with justice. A just God demands the death of sinners. But sometime before 1517, while working on his lectures, the young professor and monk had a new insight about this idea. Use the quote in the second bullet point of Theological Insights.
* Luther called this view of God's righteousness the most important insight of the Reformation. The idea that God is righteous in making us righteous impacts our justification. In justification we are made righteous. So God is righteous, not because He had the quality of righteousness or justice. He is righteous because of what He does, making us righteous. And in making us righteous He justifies us.
* How does it happen? By grace through faith, not by what we do. The righteousness by which we are justified is not our own righteousness. It's God's righteousness. He covers us with it. In this sense it's an external righteousness. This is the heart of the Reformation.
* So what? What's the big deal? Works, what we do, are not the cause of justification. Use the third bullet point of Theological Insights.
* The Christian has no glory of his or her own and is stripped of all pretensions of saving himself or herself.
* Oh, how we need this word today. Most Americans don't believe this (even though they say they do). (Cite the data referred to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.) Though a majority Protestant nation, most Americans believe that we can contribute to our salvation by our works. Sometimes they do it subtly by affirming Justification by Faith, but they make faith a kind of work that we do in order to earn salvation. Could this be related in part to the fact that the old medieval view of God's righteousness continues to be preached in our Protestant congregations? This is why we need to get clear on this reformation idea. The dominant view of the American population makes salvation uncertain, as we never can be sure if we have done enough works or had a good-enough faith.
* You can't make that affirmation when you understand Justification as an external righteousness. External in what sense? Consider the image of the law court. (Forensic Justification is now explained.) We are guilty of criminal acts (sin). We have done the crime and deserve the time. But the Judge (God) declares us not guilty. He says his Son has taken the penalty for us. As a result, though guilty of criminal behavior, we are innocent (righteous) in the eyes of the (divine) law. And just as once it is pronounced the innocence of the defendant is indubitable in the eyes of the civil law, so our innocence is now indubitable since God has decreed it!
* Invite the congregation to contemplate the wonderful news. Consider the fourth and fifth bullet points of Theological Insights. Uncertain as we may often be of our salvation, now we have received all of God's riches. We are somebodies! We are valuable to God! We are righteous (albeit in the sense that God looks at us that way despite our hang-ups).
* Invite the congregation members to reflect on what they may not like about themselves. List some negative characteristics (lack of good looks, intelligence, compassion, success, faith). The reformation word says those shortcomings, those things don't matter. You are forgiven, are righteous. You really are somebody! You don't need to find a righteous, forgiving God. You've got One!
7. Wrap-Up
The reformation word is a great word of confidence and comfort. It's a freeing word -- because it sets us free from hang-ups and doubts, sets us free to live and to serve. Another reformation? There is no way, if we understand its message, that we can ever again take it for granted. In fact, we might want to celebrate its precious, liberating word every day. We might find life a lot more carefree if we did.
Sermon Text and Title
"Freedom"
John 8:31-36
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To extol and teach the revolutionary and comforting concept of Christian freedom (Sanctification construed as the spontaneity of good works), with a reference to Justification as Intimate Union. Attention is also given to Social Ethics.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Jesus had been proclaiming Himself as one from above, perhaps a prophecy of His ascension (vv. 21-30). He proclaims to Jews who had believed in Him that if they continue in His word they are truly His disciples (v. 31). The truth will make them free (v. 32).
* The Jews contending that as descendants of Abraham, they have never been slaves (v. 33). Jesus responds, claiming that any who sin are slaves to sin (v. 34). Only the Son makes one free (v. 36).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* An examination of Christian freedom (Sanctification as the spontaneity of good works) with a reference to Justification as Intimate Union.
* Martin Luther sees the fragility of faith taught in Jesus' remarks in verse 31. He wrote: "People would gladly believe in Christ if this could make them lords or confer kingdoms on them… Fidelity to Christ's doctrine is rare, especially when people encounter an evil wind" (Luther's Works, Vol. 23, p. 393).
* Luther offers interesting reflections on the nature of our bondage to sin, how and why we can't stop sinning (v. 34): "The world is like a drunken peasant. If you lift him into the saddle on one side, he will fall off on the other side. One can't help him no matter how one tries" (Luther's Works, Vol. 54, p. 111).
* This point was made more starkly by Luther's bishop at the time of the reformation, Albert of Mainz: "I know very well that without God's grace there is nothing good in me, and that I am as much a piece of useless, stinking s**t as anyone else, if not more" (reported in Heiko Oberman, Luther, p. 108).
* The freedom Christ has provided Christians is powerfully described by Rudolf Bultmann:
Faith includes free and complete openness to the future… [It is] freedom from the past, because it is faith in the forgiveness of sins; it is freedom for the enslaving chains of the past. It is freedom from ourselves as the old selves, and for ourselves as the new selves.
(Jesus Christ and Mythology, pp. 77-78)
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer elaborated on the social implications of this reformation word of freedom:
The person who loves, because he is freed through the truth of God, is the most revolutionary person on earth. He is the One who upsets all values; He is the explosive in human society. Such a one is the most dangerous person. For He has recognized that people are untruthful in the extreme, and He is ready at any time, and just for the sake of love, to permit the light of truth to fall on them.
(A Testament to Freedom, p. 217)
* Consider the implications for understanding Christian freedom in the third-to-last bullet point in this section for the Second Lesson, Lent 4; all the quotes by Martin Luther in this section for the Second Lesson, Lent 2; and all the bullet points in this section for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2.
* Luther spoke of Christian freedom elsewhere with reference to Sabbath commemoration: "Therefore every Christian too is lord over the Sabbath, rather than over all human commandments, teachings, and ordinances" (Luther's Works, Vol. 36, p. 240).
* The first Reformer also expounded on the implications of such freedom for a situational ethic: "Thus in wars the saints frequently deceived their enemies, but those are lies one is permitted to use in the service of God against the devil and the enemies of God" (Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 150).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See First Lesson.
* A 2009 Barna Group survey revealed that most American Christians define spirituality legalistically (as obeying the Bible's rules).
* A 2008 survey of college students revealed that 1 in 4 agreed with most items characteristic of narcissism (Jean Twegne and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic). That these values would permeate the worldview of a significant number of late Generation X-ers and the Millenniums is hardly surprising in view of the media values with which they grew up, the narcissism celebrated in such hits as Jersey Shore, The Bad Girls Club, and Sex in the City.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 32.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Freedom is such a good word. On this subject, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote: "… a denial of freedom to an individual is a denial of life itself, the very character of the life of man demands freedom" (A Testament of Hope, p. 119). He did insist, though, that there are limits to freedom, limits given by God (Ibid., p. 120).
* How are we set free? Free from sin, Jesus says (v. 34). And in our Second Lesson, Paul teaches our freedom from the law (Romans 3:19-20). Cite the third and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights to stress how sinful we are, unable to do good apart from grace.
* Our sins are forgiven. Our works do not matter when it comes to salvation. But won't that lead to cheap grace, to the lessening of Christian responsibility?
* This critique is one commonly issued against reformation thinking. But with Martin Luther King Jr. we can say that's hogwash. The freedom the reformers taught, the freedom God has given us, is not a "do what you please" without limits.
* Let's see how reformers carefully affirmed how Christian freedom leads to good works. Consider: (1) The third and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights for Second Lesson, Epiphany 2; (2) The fourth bullet point for the Second Lesson, Lent 2.
* Interestingly, the great American theologian of the last century, Reinhold Niebuhr, essentially contended that real freedom liberates us from our insidious preoccupation with ourselves: "We do not become unselfish by saying so. But thank God, there are forces in life and in history that draw us out of ourselves and make us truly ourselves. This is grace…" (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
* The freedom of the gospel gets us free from ourselves. It also gets us free from the chains of the past. (See the fifth bullet point of Theological Insights.) Invite the congregation to consider how often we fail to take up a new activity either because we feel inadequate to undertake it (are in bondage to ourselves) or have failed in a similar undertaking in the past (and so are chained by the past). Give examples in congregational or community life. With elections upcoming, these points could be cited to rebut claims concerning the alleged futility of negotiations with the enemy or of seeking to alleviate poverty on grounds that efforts like this previously have failed or on grounds that people are flawed.
* Cite the Bonhoeffer quote in Theological Insights on how the free Christian is dangerous insofar as one who is free upsets existing values and is ready to function prophetically (permitting the light of truth to fall on all). The free man and woman will not allow the injustices in our society to go unchallenged.
* But freedom in Christ is no burden. It is like the freedom we experience in a good marriage; see the fifth bullet point of Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Epiphany 2.
* Happily married couples are never freer than in the company of their spouses (just as children with good relations with parents can be themselves more readily in the midst of parental love than anywhere else). Yet in these relationships, a lot of loving things, a lot of good deeds happen without the parties even thinking about them. In these relationships we even begin to take on some of the good qualities of those we love. Married to Christ as we have been, Christians without recognizing it freely and joyfully begin taking on some of Christ's characteristics, like love, selfless service, openness to the future, and being a person dangerous to society's status quo. Free people are a force to be reckoned with.
7. Wrap-Up
Freedom is indeed a compelling, joyful reality, one filled with joyful service. How good to be a free reformation Christian in love, loved by our Lord with His unconditional, freeing love.
