Reformation Day (Observed) [Jeremiah 31:31-34] (27 October 2013)

This sermon was preached at Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Bend (9 am).  

You know what my favorite topic is? Myself. Oh, but not me talking about myself, that's not so fun – other people talking about how good I am, that's my favorite topic. And that makes it very hard to celebrate Reformation day, to make it a day to talk about ourselves and how Lutherans are or to have some sort of German festival (which doesn't even accurately describe how Lutherans are). Just is bad is to talk about how good we are that we've “moved past” the Reformation and are sorry that it ever happened. None of those can match the unbridled comfort and joy of the enduring significance and message of the Reformation, which isn't about you but Christ for you. And for that we have God's Word from the prophet Jeremiah:

The Reformation faithfully confesses the new covenant of forgiveness by the blood of Jesus.

To celebrate the Reformation is to confess its teaching, as Luther did. Luther's legacy is how he confessed the faith, which means his legacy isn't about what type of person he was, but about who he pointed to up to his dying breath. And we have this confession, even down to what you can sing. He wrote this hymn, and in a lot of ways it's his life's story, it's about the things that he went through. But most importantly it's about the love of God in Christ Jesus for sinners. Let's take a look:

1 Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice,
With exultation springing,
And with united heart and voice
And holy rapture singing,
Proclaim the wonders God has done,
How His right arm the vict'ry won;
What price our ransom cost Him!

 

2 Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay;
Death brooded darkly o'er me.
Sin was my torment night and day;
In sin my mother bore me.
But daily deeper still I fell;
My life became a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me.

 

3 My own good works all came to naught,
No grace or merit gaining;
Free will against God's judgment fought,
Dead to all good remaining.
My fears increased till sheer despair
Left only death to be my share;
The pangs of hell I suffered.

 

4 But God had seen my wretched state
Before the world's foundation,
And mindful of His mercies great,
He planned for my salvation.
He turned to me a father's heart;
He did not choose the easy part
But gave His dearest treasure.

 

5 God said to His beloved Son:
"It's time to have compassion.
Then go, bright jewel of My crown,
And bring to all salvation.
From sin and sorrow set them free;
Slay bitter death for them that they
May live with You forever."

 

6 The Son obeyed His Father's will,
Was born of virgin mother;
And God's good pleasure to fulfill,
He came to be my brother.
His royal pow'r disguised He bore;
A servant's form, like mine, He wore
To lead the devil captive.

 

7 To me He said: "Stay close to Me,
I am your rock and castle.
Your ransom I Myself will be;
For you I strive and wrestle.
For I am yours, and you are Mine,
And where I am you may remain;
The foe shall not divide us.

 

8 "Though he will shed My precious blood,
Me of My life bereaving,
All this I suffer for your good;
Be steadfast and believing.
Life will from death the vict'ry win;
My innocence shall bear your sin,
And you are blest forever.

 

9 "Now to My Father I depart,
From earth to heav'n ascending,
And, heav'nly wisdom to impart,
The Holy Spirit sending;
In trouble He will comfort you
And teach you always to be true
And into truth shall guide you.

 

10 "What I on earth have done and taught,
Guide all your life and teaching;
So shall the kingdom's work be wrought
And honored in your preaching.
But watch lest foes with base alloy
The heav'nly treasure should destroy;
This final word I leave you."

And that last verse, even though he has Jesus speaking these words, they are words that he himself echoes down through the ages. The base alloy, the cheap metals you'd get mad if someone tried to sell you, don't let that type of teaching ever sneak in. Hold to Christ, because I'll tell you, I've found no one else to hold on to. So hold on to his Word for dear life. This final word I leave you.

 

Transition: Dr. Hermann Sasse said that when what Luther taught was forgotten, that's when the celebration of Luther the man and Luther the hero really took effect. So that's why Reformation Day can't be about that, and especially not in the pulpit, where Luther is not to be preached, where even the Christian is not to be preached, but where Christ is to be preached. And so,

 

It's not a celebration of the Reformation to take up false views of the Reformation that deprive you of the comfort of the Gospel but leave you with man-made anythings. False views of the Reformation talk about “flavors” of Christianity instead of confession and truth. False views of the Reformation talk about being brave like Luther to get rid of old things and do something new. They talk about the Reformation as a “movement” that gives you permission to try “different things”. They talk about the Reformation as an example to go against authority and things like that. All these things have in common the Reformation as an example, not as a confession of faith.

 

And here's how that way of thinking deprives you of the comfort of the Gospel by substituting man-made anythings: it lets you wind up under the thumb of whatever is new and trendy rather than the Word of God which is eternal. It lets you end up with whatever change the surrounding culture decides is good, rather than the words which come from the mouth of the Lord to his Church. It gives you an equality that is against the authority of God's Word. The Reformation in fact builds on the solid rock of Christ by restating and recovering the Gospel where error had snuck in, both in errors that were a few hundred years old to errrors that sprang up new around the Lutheran reformers. It's confessing the Christian faith, the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.

Transition: That's why Luther's confession is a good confession of the new covenant. Jeremiah writes the words of the Lord, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” This teaching is the new covenant in Christ for your justification by grace alone through faith alone. But if there's a new covenant there must be an old covenant. The Lord mentions this too, “not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”

 

The old covenant was broke by the sinfulness of the people. The Old Covenant is God's Law, which is broken by sinners who are sinful and unclean from birth. This is what the 10 commandments given at Mount Sinai do. But the old covenant is not like the new. And the difference is the coming of the Christ. The old covenant was given at Sinai, the new covenant given by Christ in person. The old covenant looked ahead to God taking flesh in Christ Jesus. The new is what happens when Jesus has come. And so make no mistake, the Old Testament saints were saved the same way as the New Testament saints, through faith in the Messiah, the Son of God.

The new covenant is Jesus in the flesh. In Jeremiah 33 we hear two interesting things. First, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' ” and then “Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, ²¹ then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken”. The Lord has neither broken his covenant nor abandoned his promises! That's why you have Jesus.

Jesus is how God deals with you. Jesus is the one who said his blood is the new covenant, the new testament. The new covenant is Jesus on the cross for you.

 

The new covenant is why Jesus shed his blood – for your justification by grace alone through faith alone. Let's break it down word by word: Justify – like your accountant calls you in to justify an expense, to prove why its right and good; by = why; grace = how God looks at you as an undeserved gift, through = how he does it; faith = the heart that receives these gifts as gifts, which is itself a gift; alone – nothing of my own I claim but solely lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand.

 

This is the comfort of the Gospel. Your sins can't harm you, for they have harmed Jesus to the point of death, so that you may have his life. This is what is splashed on you in holy Baptism. This blood is what you drink in the Lord's Supper. This is what gives the word of Absolution its power. These are yours, what the Holy Spirit brings to you from Christ to the joy of the Father – always his to give, and always yours to receive, not by works but by faith.

 

This is what the Church must never let go of, suffering death rather than falling away from it. This is the comfort, and what makes that hymn such a good funeral hymn.

Conclusion: The enduring significance and message of the Reformation is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the new covenant by his blood. Those who hold to it will add nothing to this message so that no comfort will be taken away. It rejoices when the Lord says, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Amen.