WHY THE REFORMATION STILL MATTERS

Text:  Luke 18:9-14

Theme:  "Why the Reformation Still Matters"

23rd Sunday After Pentecost

Reformation Sunday

October 27, 2013

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

It's a good question, a legitimate question, a reasonable question -- and that question is this:  why would an event (or series of events) that transpired nearly five hundred years ago have any possible relevance for life today?  That period of time that is dubbed the "dark ages" went from roughly the year 500 A.D. to 1500 A.D. After that came the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.   Then, moving further down the line, we had revolutions. Think of the American revolution.  Historians talk about the industrial revolution. Even now we're in the technological revolution. We are said to live in the "Information" age where the entire contents of the Library of Congress can be kept on a single microchip.  Yes, Guttenberg's invention of the printing press was quite amazing  about five hundred years ago.  But now we read our books -- and even preach our sermons! -- from an electronic Kindle or Nook.  Without even leaving the comfort or our own family rooms, we can wirelessly purchase anything our heart desires -- from books to textbooks, from Sports Illustrated and Field Stream to Ladies Home Journal, Mademoiselle, and Cosmopolitan.   Given our technological "footprint", the advertisers can then "suggest" new books to read and various and sundry items to purchase based on our buying patterns.

 

We've come a long way, haven't we?  It used to be that young people looked up to the old folks for wisdom and guidance.  Nowadays, it's the old folks who look to the young folks for directions on how to program the DVR!  It used to be that people worshipped on their knees.  But then came kneelers and wooden pews.  Now we have theatre seating.  It used to be that messages were delivered from pulpits.  Now, in a growing number of churches, they are delivered from a stage complete with a PowerPoint presentation.  It used to be that wars were fought with stick and stones and spears and javelins.  Now we have predator drones. We've come a long way, haven't we?

 

All of that said, it shouldn't surprise anyone if someone says "Who in the heck is Martin Luther?  Isn't he the guy that gave the great speech about having a dream? And what is this thing called the Reformation?  You better tell me quick because Dallas plays Detroit at noon and I've got to get things ready for Halloween after the game!"

 

Yes, a man named Martin Luther -- a Roman Catholic, an Augustinian monk, and a university professor of theology -- pinned a set of theses on the front door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31st, 1517, the eve of All Saints Day. 

 

This past week I ran across a picture of Martin Luther that I posted on my Facebook account.  Someone had put words into his mouth which said:  "I don't always  nail things to church doors.  But when I do, stuff starts to happen."

 

What happened nearly five hundred years ago --which wasn't limited to Luther in Germany but also included John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland and many others -- was a very dangerous attempt to remove hundreds of years worth of rules, regulations, manipulation, control, and hierarchy off the back of the Gospel -- the good news of God's grace and mercy for everyone in the person and work of Jesus Christ!  The head of the church is not the pope -- and it's not the cardinals; it's not the bishops; it's not the theologians; it's not the heads of state (as they attempted to do in England with Henry VIII),and it's not even in a convention, a general assembly, or a session!   The head of the church is Jesus Christ.  The gifts and promises of the head of the church are not found in papal decrees (as they were then) or in "mission" or "vision" statements or in some list of fundamentals (as they are now).  They are not to be recognized in overtures passed by some assembly.  They are given in the Bible. 

 

When you boil it down to brass tacks, what matters about the Reformation is actually a question that we all must ask:  am I going to go home justified?  At the end of the day and, indeed, at the end of my life, am I going to go home justified?  Am I going to go home justified because I was a good person or because I bucked the trend and kept 65% of God's rules 75% of the time?  Am I going to go home justified because I always paid my taxes before April 15th, gave 10% of my income to the church and even more to other charitable causes?  Am I going to go home justified because my moral resume is pure and pristine in comparison to the mud and immoral sludge slathered all over  someone else's track record? 

 

Or am I going to go home justified because God was merciful to me, a sinner?  Am I going to home justified because me and Jesus were pals?  Or am I going to go home justified because of grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, who I have come to know through Scripture alone? 

 

Speaking of Scripture, in today's Gospel Jesus tells a little story that he tailored to a specific audience.  That audience included folks, Luke reports, who were "confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else."  Just an observation here., folks, but that sounds like America in 2013.  It's the Democrats' fault; it's the Republican's fault; it's the guy who is texting while driving's fault; it's that no good, dirty so-and-so's fault!  All of us, to one degree or another, are confident of our own righteousness.  We took Jack Palance seriously when he slapped aftershave on his face and said:  "Confidence is very sexy."    It's impulsive; it's instinctual; it's nothing short of our default position.  When something goes wrong, whose fault is it?  Immediately, it must be someone else's.  Now, it could very well be the case that when something bad happens it IS someone else's fault, but the impulse to justify ourselves is even more powerful than the pain of victimhood.  There's that little, nagging, hyper-sensitive something in all of us that insists on saving face!

 

The scene is set in the temple.  It is the hour of prayer. A Pharisee stands up to offer his prayer.    He looks up to heaven, and he starts off with a word of gratitude -- and isn't gratitude a good place to start?  The question is:  what are you grateful for? The Pharisee thanks God because he is, to use his own words, "not like other men -- robbers, evildoers, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."  The Pharisee thanks God because he has made his comparisons, and he comes out smelling like a rose.

 

But meanwhile, standing a distance away from this Pharisee, is a tax collector -- a man who had betrayed his own countrymen and legally fleeced his pockets with their money.  He was despised and hated -- a man that almighty God should not bother with.  But this tax collector had the audacity to even appear in the temple.  Unlike the Pharisee, he didn't look up to heaven at all.  In a gesture that was physically, spiritually, and emotionally painful, he beat his breast.  That's how intense his feelings were.  He says:  "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."  He did not compare himself to other people and stand on his laurels, for there were no laurels to stand on. 

 

He understood himself to be coram Deo--that's Latin for "before the face of God."  And the tax collector knew that coram Deo is the point where nobody is fooling anybody.  What the tax collector does is two things:  he states a fact, and he makes a request.  The fact is:  he is a sinner. The request is:  God, be merciful to me.

 

Why does the Reformation matter?  It's not because the Roman Catholic Church matters, or the Presbyterian Church matters, or any other tradition of Christians matters.  The Reformation matters because the Gospel matters.

 

Jesus said that it was the tax collector who went home justified. He didn't make comparisons; he didn't stand on his laurels. He stated the fact.  He pleaded for mercy.  Whether he knew it or felt it or not, Jesus says he went home justified. 

 

Why does the Reformation matter?  Because going home justified at the end of the day matters.  Yes, we've come a long way, but what matters more than this?

 

The Reformation refocused everything.  It refocused things then, and, please God, let it refocus things now.  With the Reformation, we went from "What can I do to earn God's favor?" to "Look how God is merciful to us sinners in Jesus Christ!" 

 

Because God is merciful, we go home justified.  Amen.