Reformation Sunday
TEXT: Matthew 11:12-19
GOD’S KINGDOM IS NOT TAKEN BY FORCE!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
Grace to you and peace from Him who was and who is and who is to come, and for the seven Spirits who are before His throne (that is the Holy Spirit) and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead (Rev. 1:4, 5). Dear children of the Reformation; “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
If you had been alive when He walked visibly on earth, you would have noticed little difference between the Pharisees and Jesus. The Pharisees were Bible-believing teachers who had a following of disciples. Jesus was a Bible-believing teacher who had a following of disciples. They were serious and conservative of good moral values. Jesus was serious and conservative of good moral values. They were concerned with people getting into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was concerned with people getting into the kingdom of heaven.
Yet, for all their outward similarities and their common searching of the Old Testament, there was a great divide between the Pharisees and Jesus. The difference was as great as the divide between heaven and hell. The difference centered on their teaching of how God’s kingdom is entered. The Pharisees taught that it came by sincere, religious effort in keeping God’s law. Jesus taught that the kingdom came as a gift through His suffering and death and the forgiveness of sins He won.
Fast forward 1500 years to the time of the Reformation. If you had lived in Wittenberg when Dr. Martin Luther first taught there, you would have noticed little outward difference between him and many other teachers of the church. Dr. Luther was a Bible-believing pastor who was concerned with people entering the kingdom of heaven. The teachers of Rome also used the Bible and many of them were also sincerely concerned with people entering the kingdom of heaven. Yet for all their outward similarities, the contrast between Luther and the teachers of Rome centered on the very difference that separated Jesus from the Pharisees.
They differed immensely in their teaching of how God’s kingdom is entered. Luther taught that the kingdom came as a gift of God’s grace through faith in Christ, apart from works of the law. The teachings of Rome more and more centered on the good works of man as the key to heaven. There was the sale of indulgences to pry one’s way out of purgatory. There was the assignment of acts of penance to make satisfaction for sins confessed. There was trust in relics and pilgrimages and papal decrees. There was even the tragic perversion of the Lord’s Supper into a sacrifice thought to be accomplished by the priest and offered to God. Rome taught that by works of the law man could advance his standing before God. Luther taught that the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
Fast forward another 500 years to the religious scene of today. It may seem that there is little outward difference in the many varieties of modern-day religion. Nearly all of them advocate being good and doing good works. Many of them speak highly of God’s love and think highly of Jesus as a special example of that love. But in reality, there is an immense difference in teaching and faith if one truth is not kept absolutely clear and absolutely central.
That truth is the presence of Christ and the total forgiveness which He embodies. That truth is the gift of the kingdom of heaven through the person of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. 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. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence whenever His person and His bloody propitiation are replaced with anything else. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
That means that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence also at our hands and in our hearts. Our sinful flesh is never content with Christ’s forgiveness – it always wants to add itself. Therefore our sinful minds calculate and compare. Surely, when the day of the Lord comes and we must give an account, our lives will add up to “good enough”. Our weak flesh wonders and worries. Perhaps we haven’t done all we should, but God will surely see that our intentions are good. Dear hearers of the Word, beware of such religious reasoning. It always litters the landscape because it is the religion of man. Beware of trying to take the kingdom of God by force, even the force of good intentions.
For you see, the violence that Jesus spoke of was not the violence of those who were trying to destroy the Church. This wasn’t the aggression of communism or an immoral culture. It was rather the violence of those who believed they were pleasing God and advancing His kingdom. It is the violence of turning efforts to keep the law into a false gospel. It is the violence of substituting how-to(s) for Christ’s cry from Calvary, “It is finished”. It is aggressive spirituality that believes it can make up for its mistakes and redeem itself. It is forceful spirituality that may try to outdo the one Lord of one faith and one baptism by attempting to be re-baptized. It is the violence of human judgment overriding God’s judgment. “If God is fair and just, He will certainly welcome the soul of this kind person into heaven” even apart from faith in Jesus whom God put forward as the sacrifice of atonement through His blood.
Beloved members and students, as you mark the Reformation today please remember that it was not the start of something new! God led Luther to rediscover the way of life and the way of death. The way of death depends on man and looks outwardly impressive. It may speak much of Jesus, but it centers on the actions of man and the self-righteousness of man. It is a form of idolatry.
The way of life depends on Christ and looks quite unimpressive. It seems to be out of touch with reality, except to the eyes of faith. It centers on the presence of Christ and the gifts of Christ and the righteousness of Christ. In fact, it is all Christ. It is the eternal Gospel that must continually reform the Church.
This is what the Pharisees did not receive. They read the Old Testament diligently. What they found were rules for living and plans for a Messiah who would bring them earthly success. They read the Old Testament to find eternal life, but they missed the truth that eternal life is embodied in one person. As Jesus said to them, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;” (John 5:39).
Fast forward to the day of your death and to Judgment Day! The angel (messenger) of Revelation proclaims to every nation, tribe and language and people (and therefore to you) “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
What is it that you depend on for the hour of judgment? What is it that fuels your forgiveness of those who sin against you in this hour? What is it that moves you to give generously to advance the gospel? What is it that gives you hope when everything seems hopeless?
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Oh, the blessed separation – apart from the works of the law. Oh, the blessed forbearance of God! Oh, the blessed redemption that is in Christ Jesus! The only way that the kingdom of heaven can be entered is by the violence he Himself suffered. They called Him a glutton who is the Bread of Life. That called Him a drunkard who drank the cup of God’s wrath for us. All have sinned – except Him! All fall short of the glory of God – except Him! He is the glory of God! The law holds the whole world accountable to God and Jesus settled the account. What occurred on the cross was Judgment Day for the sins of the world. The judgment that fell against Jesus will never fall on you who are in Christ.
Dear Children of the Reformation, it was an age that looked for a link to God in the extraordinary and extreme – relics, pilgrimages, and more. But Luther pointed to the simple yet profound right in front of our eyes: to the cross, to water, to bread and wine, to the Word of God. Ours is an age of visions and dreams and nature worship and spiritual illusions. But Christ is still found in the simple and the profound that Luther pointed to, where Christ has promised to be “for you”.
Not only did He make the sea and springs of water, He made water to be a spring of new life in your Baptism. Not only did He shed His blood on Calvary, He bids you to drink of His blood today. What cannot be taken by violence, He comes to freely give you by His grace through faith.
The Reformation was not the start of something new, but the recovery of that which makes new – the eternal Gospel. God help us to hold fast to that Gospel in sincere and contrite hearts. God help us to clearly proclaim that Gospel in our corner of the world and to every nation and tribe and language and people. In the Name of Jesus, amen.
GOD’S KINGDOM IS NOT TAKEN BY FORCE!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
Grace to you and peace from Him who was and who is and who is to come, and for the seven Spirits who are before His throne (that is the Holy Spirit) and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead (Rev. 1:4, 5). Dear children of the Reformation; “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
If you had been alive when He walked visibly on earth, you would have noticed little difference between the Pharisees and Jesus. The Pharisees were Bible-believing teachers who had a following of disciples. Jesus was a Bible-believing teacher who had a following of disciples. They were serious and conservative of good moral values. Jesus was serious and conservative of good moral values. They were concerned with people getting into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was concerned with people getting into the kingdom of heaven.
Yet, for all their outward similarities and their common searching of the Old Testament, there was a great divide between the Pharisees and Jesus. The difference was as great as the divide between heaven and hell. The difference centered on their teaching of how God’s kingdom is entered. The Pharisees taught that it came by sincere, religious effort in keeping God’s law. Jesus taught that the kingdom came as a gift through His suffering and death and the forgiveness of sins He won.
Fast forward 1500 years to the time of the Reformation. If you had lived in Wittenberg when Dr. Martin Luther first taught there, you would have noticed little outward difference between him and many other teachers of the church. Dr. Luther was a Bible-believing pastor who was concerned with people entering the kingdom of heaven. The teachers of Rome also used the Bible and many of them were also sincerely concerned with people entering the kingdom of heaven. Yet for all their outward similarities, the contrast between Luther and the teachers of Rome centered on the very difference that separated Jesus from the Pharisees.
They differed immensely in their teaching of how God’s kingdom is entered. Luther taught that the kingdom came as a gift of God’s grace through faith in Christ, apart from works of the law. The teachings of Rome more and more centered on the good works of man as the key to heaven. There was the sale of indulgences to pry one’s way out of purgatory. There was the assignment of acts of penance to make satisfaction for sins confessed. There was trust in relics and pilgrimages and papal decrees. There was even the tragic perversion of the Lord’s Supper into a sacrifice thought to be accomplished by the priest and offered to God. Rome taught that by works of the law man could advance his standing before God. Luther taught that the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
Fast forward another 500 years to the religious scene of today. It may seem that there is little outward difference in the many varieties of modern-day religion. Nearly all of them advocate being good and doing good works. Many of them speak highly of God’s love and think highly of Jesus as a special example of that love. But in reality, there is an immense difference in teaching and faith if one truth is not kept absolutely clear and absolutely central.
That truth is the presence of Christ and the total forgiveness which He embodies. That truth is the gift of the kingdom of heaven through the person of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. 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. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence whenever His person and His bloody propitiation are replaced with anything else. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
That means that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence also at our hands and in our hearts. Our sinful flesh is never content with Christ’s forgiveness – it always wants to add itself. Therefore our sinful minds calculate and compare. Surely, when the day of the Lord comes and we must give an account, our lives will add up to “good enough”. Our weak flesh wonders and worries. Perhaps we haven’t done all we should, but God will surely see that our intentions are good. Dear hearers of the Word, beware of such religious reasoning. It always litters the landscape because it is the religion of man. Beware of trying to take the kingdom of God by force, even the force of good intentions.
For you see, the violence that Jesus spoke of was not the violence of those who were trying to destroy the Church. This wasn’t the aggression of communism or an immoral culture. It was rather the violence of those who believed they were pleasing God and advancing His kingdom. It is the violence of turning efforts to keep the law into a false gospel. It is the violence of substituting how-to(s) for Christ’s cry from Calvary, “It is finished”. It is aggressive spirituality that believes it can make up for its mistakes and redeem itself. It is forceful spirituality that may try to outdo the one Lord of one faith and one baptism by attempting to be re-baptized. It is the violence of human judgment overriding God’s judgment. “If God is fair and just, He will certainly welcome the soul of this kind person into heaven” even apart from faith in Jesus whom God put forward as the sacrifice of atonement through His blood.
Beloved members and students, as you mark the Reformation today please remember that it was not the start of something new! God led Luther to rediscover the way of life and the way of death. The way of death depends on man and looks outwardly impressive. It may speak much of Jesus, but it centers on the actions of man and the self-righteousness of man. It is a form of idolatry.
The way of life depends on Christ and looks quite unimpressive. It seems to be out of touch with reality, except to the eyes of faith. It centers on the presence of Christ and the gifts of Christ and the righteousness of Christ. In fact, it is all Christ. It is the eternal Gospel that must continually reform the Church.
This is what the Pharisees did not receive. They read the Old Testament diligently. What they found were rules for living and plans for a Messiah who would bring them earthly success. They read the Old Testament to find eternal life, but they missed the truth that eternal life is embodied in one person. As Jesus said to them, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;” (John 5:39).
Fast forward to the day of your death and to Judgment Day! The angel (messenger) of Revelation proclaims to every nation, tribe and language and people (and therefore to you) “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
What is it that you depend on for the hour of judgment? What is it that fuels your forgiveness of those who sin against you in this hour? What is it that moves you to give generously to advance the gospel? What is it that gives you hope when everything seems hopeless?
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Oh, the blessed separation – apart from the works of the law. Oh, the blessed forbearance of God! Oh, the blessed redemption that is in Christ Jesus! The only way that the kingdom of heaven can be entered is by the violence he Himself suffered. They called Him a glutton who is the Bread of Life. That called Him a drunkard who drank the cup of God’s wrath for us. All have sinned – except Him! All fall short of the glory of God – except Him! He is the glory of God! The law holds the whole world accountable to God and Jesus settled the account. What occurred on the cross was Judgment Day for the sins of the world. The judgment that fell against Jesus will never fall on you who are in Christ.
Dear Children of the Reformation, it was an age that looked for a link to God in the extraordinary and extreme – relics, pilgrimages, and more. But Luther pointed to the simple yet profound right in front of our eyes: to the cross, to water, to bread and wine, to the Word of God. Ours is an age of visions and dreams and nature worship and spiritual illusions. But Christ is still found in the simple and the profound that Luther pointed to, where Christ has promised to be “for you”.
Not only did He make the sea and springs of water, He made water to be a spring of new life in your Baptism. Not only did He shed His blood on Calvary, He bids you to drink of His blood today. What cannot be taken by violence, He comes to freely give you by His grace through faith.
The Reformation was not the start of something new, but the recovery of that which makes new – the eternal Gospel. God help us to hold fast to that Gospel in sincere and contrite hearts. God help us to clearly proclaim that Gospel in our corner of the world and to every nation and tribe and language and people. In the Name of Jesus, amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
10/30/2007
