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SOLUS CHRISTUS – ONLY CHRIST Autumn Ridge Church October 21-22, 2017

No. 4: Sola Power

My name is Martin Luther. All you need to know about me is that I am a sinner saved by grace.

I have been getting a lot of attention this month because 500 years ago I nailed up my 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. This started the . I don’t deserve any credit. In fact I did nothing. It was the Word that did everything. All the glory belongs to God alone.

But perhaps it would be helpful to put the record straight by giving my faith story because experiencing faith in Christ has been the most important event of my life.

I suppose I should begin at the beginning. I was born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Saxony. Later on Saxony became East Germany. Now you call it the Federal Republic of Germany.

In my day it was part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a thrilling time to be alive. My contemporaries were people like Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Thomas More and Christopher Columbus.

My parents were Hans and Margarethe. I was one of seven children. They called me “Martin” because I was baptized on the feast day of St. Martin. My father worked in the local copper mine. He was middle class but later on I wrote “I am a peasant’s son.” It wasn’t really true, but if you are going to tell a story it’s worth telling it well.

My dad sent me to Latin school. When I was just 13 he enrolled me at the University of Erfurt to study law. He hoped that as a lawyer I would be able to keep him in his old age.

While I was at university I came across an entire copy of the Bible in Latin. That was very rare at the time. This is when I started to develop a deep love for scripture.

I am proud to say I earned both my BA and MA in the shortest time allowed by the university statutes. I was so good at public debating that I was nicknamed “The Philosopher.”

However, my legal studies came to an abrupt end on July 2, 1505 when I was caught in a severe thunderstorm. It was absolutely terrifying. A bolt of lightning landed nearby and I was thrown to the ground. 2

In terror I cried out, “Save me, St. Anne, and I will become a monk!” I said that because back then we didn’t dare come to Jesus directly. He was too holy, too remote. So we went through an intermediary like a saint. Saint Anne was the name of my father’s patron saint. I thought that if a man wanted to follow God he became a monk. For some time I had longed to know God better.

So I joined the monastery of the Augustinian hermits in Erfurt. This is their habit I am wearing. Strict discipline was the order of the day. I dedicated myself to study, prayer and the use of the .

I especially focused on the of penance and I examined myself constantly, grieving over my sins, confessing them to my priest and doing whatever he told me to do to show my repentance. If anyone could have earned heaven by the life of a monk it was me.

To be honest, I think I wearied my priest with all my confessions and he dreaded the daily sight of me. But I knew I was a sinner and even though I was living in a monastery trying to please God I was aware that I had fallen far short of God’s standards.

My superior was a wonderful old man called Staupitz. He saw some talent in me and urged me to cease from my excessive introspection. He encouraged me in my studies.

I was particularly impressed with the writings of William of Ockham. Perhaps you’ve heard of Ockham’s Razor? Ockham stressed the importance of the authority of the Bible. So I learned Greek and Hebrew and I committed most of the New Testament and great portions of the Old Testament to memory.

I was ordained a priest in 1507. I then taught at the Universities of Wittenberg and Erfurt. In 1512 I received my Doctor of Theology Degree and when I did so I took the traditional vow to faithfully teach and defend the scriptures. This vow was a great comfort to me later on when I was attacked for my views. I never regarded myself as a rebel but rather as a Christian keeping the promise that I made to God.

In 1516 I became the People’s Priest in Wittenberg where I had regular preaching duties. I truly loved my people but I still had no peace. I desperately wanted to be right with God but I didn’t know how to achieve this.

It was around this time that I became deeply concerned about the abuses taking place in the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were pieces of paper signed by the Pope that encouraged people to believe that they were buying the forgiveness of their sins for themselves or for others.

These indulgences could either get you out of purgatory quicker or avoid purgatory all together. This easy form of forgiveness was clearly contrary to the teaching of 3

the Bible. There was an idiot called Tetzel who went up and down the street selling these worthless tickets to heaven. He would say “As soon as the money in the cash box rings the soul leaps out of purgatory and sings.”

I strongly objected to this practice as it contradicted the truth of grace alone. I wrote my 95 theses against these indulgences. I then posted them on the door of my church in Wittenberg.

I was simply inviting the academic community to discuss this issue. Following the usual custom I sent a copy to my bishop. I was rather surprised that others saw these theses as of great importance and, without my permission, they translated them into German and published them.

This led to a number of discussions with leading theologians. One of these took place in Leipzig when I debated with John Eck. This really helped me clarify my views on authority. I recognized that it was the Bible alone, not Popes or church councils, on which my faith should be based.

All this time I was still a lost person. I didn’t know Christ but I desperately wanted to. Try as I might I could not attain the perfection that God’s standards require. And then one day in 1518 I was reading Romans 1:17 which says, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

I was wondering how the righteousness of God could be the gospel or good news. Suddenly I realized that the gospel is good news because in Christ, God gives the righteousness demanded in the law to us. God imputes the perfect righteousness of his Son to sinners like me who receive it by faith.

So Solus Christus means I can come to God through Christ alone. I don’t have to come through a saint or come with good works or come through a minister or a priest. All I need is Christ.

At that moment of discovery I was born again. I rejoiced that Jesus died for me. He made his righteousness mine and made my sin his own. And if he made my sins his own then I don’t have them. So I am free.

You see either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost. But if you are resting on Christ you are saved. So choose wisely.

Over the years my theology developed but it was all based on this premise of justification by faith. My daily prayer became “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness. I am your sin. You took on you what was mine, yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.”

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Now you will never understand me if you just think of me as a theologian. The fact is that I never wrote a . My writings always addressed specific theological issues of the moment. What was important to me was Christ.

It is foolish to love theology more than Jesus. That is like going to a tavern and focusing on the menu and never ordering a meal. The important thing is Christ, knowing him and the power of his resurrection.

That is why I tell people not to call themselves “Lutherans” but “Christians.” What is Luther? The teaching is not mine, nor was I crucified for anyone. How did I, a poor, stinking bag of maggots that I am, come to the point where people call children of Christ by my evil name?

All I want on this anniversary of my little Reformation is that you know Jesus as I do. I tell my people that we need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.

If you see yourself as a little sinner you will invariably see Jesus as a little Savior. But he is not a little Savior. He is a great Savior and I need that for I am a great sinner.

When I was young we never used to sing hymns in church and I thought that was a pity. We Germans loved to sing so I wrote some hymns usually based on the psalms, like A Mighty Fortress, which is based on Psalm 46.

I love music because “Next to the word of God, music deserves the highest praise. She is a mistress and governess of those human emotions which control men or more often overwhelm them. Whether you wish to comfort the sad, to subdue frivolity, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate, what more effective means than music could you find?”

Some people have claimed that I don’t believe in good works. But that’s not true. I don’t believe that good works can get us into heaven. It is faith that gets us into heaven. But good works are an expression of our faith.

God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. Just as our Heavenly Father has freely come to our aid, we ought freely to help our neighbor. We should strive to be Christ to one another, for that is what it means to be truly Christian. can be summed up in two words “faith” and “love.” Faith is receiving from above and love is giving out below.

Now I get a lot of credit for the Reformation but I was helped by many people. There was my colleague Philip Melanchthon, a wonderful godly man. Then I was protected in my order by Staupitz and in my city by my Prince Frederick, the Elector of Saxony. This illustrates an important truth. Any time something is done for the kingdom it always takes a team effort.

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After my conversion I continued to study the Bible using Erasmus’ Greek New Testament. I devoted a lot of time to examining ’s Supper. At that time people were only allowed to take the bread but I saw that Jesus gave both bread and wine to his disciples. So I did the same with my congregation. My church taught seven sacraments but I saw that there were really only two, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

As I read through the scripture one of my greatest discoveries was that there was not a separate order for priests. Instead all of us are priests because we can all come to God directly. I called this “the priesthood of all believers.” For me this is one of the most precious doctrines of the Bible. For it means that all of us can come to Christ with our prayers, confessing our sin, and asking for his help. For all who believe on Christ are kings and priests.

I wrote lots of books during this time. Perhaps my best was called On the Freedom of the Christian. I realized that we are free when we live by faith in the promises of Christ. Yet because we follow Christ we become a bondservant of all.

In 1520 Pope Leo X issued a papal bull telling me I must recant or I would be excommunicated. I could not recant and so in 1521 I was thrown out of my beloved church. In March I was asked to appear before the Emperor Charles V in what was called the Diet of Worms.

I always liked this term “Diet of Worms” because it sounded like an overweight bird’s breakfast. I had hoped to be able to defend myself but I was denied the opportunity to speak. I did make a brief statement saying that “My conscience is captive to the word of God. Here I stand.”

My Protector, Frederick, realized my life was in great danger and on the way home he kidnapped me and took me to Wartburg Castle where I was hidden for a number of months. During this time I was declared an outlaw.

This meant that anyone helping me was going to lose their life and their property. I called Wartburg my island of Patmos. I grew a beard and tried to disguise myself. I called myself Junker George or Knight George. I don’t think I deceived anyone.

Satan attacked me often during this period. On one occasion he was so real that I threw an ink pot at him. However, when tells me I am a sinner I don’t mind. I just tell him that Christ died for sinners.

During my exile at Wartburg I was plagued by stomach disorders. I told my friend Melanchthon “The Lord has afflicted me with painful constipation.” I have always had problems with my bowels.

Later on I endured gall and kidney stone attacks. These reminded me of death because of the excruciating agony they caused. I also suffered from severe headaches and had buzzing in my ears. These forced me to interrupt my routine 6

and even avoid the bright light of a sunny day. I tried to joke about them calling them “the devil’s ride through my brain.” By God’s grace I recovered.

I used my time in Wartburg to work on translating the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into German. I thought it was essential that ordinary people could have the word of God. I love the Bible because it is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.

Looking back I made some mistakes. I deeply regret these. In 1524 the peasants in our region demanded more rights. I didn’t realize it but they were responding to my teaching. I had told them that all of us are equal before God. We are all believer priests so we can follow our conscience.

Later on this truth would lead to what you call democracy. In my day the peasants simply wanted a better standard of living. But I was horrified by the anarchy and chaos their rebellion posed to society.

So I dashed off a book called Against the Robbing and Murdering Hoards. In it I urged the nobility to hunt down and slaughter the peasants. I wrote too strongly and many people were killed. It is not easy being a reformer.

On a happier note, 1525 was the year I married Katharina von Bora, or “Katie” as I called her. She had been a nun whom I rescued from her convent. My marriage scandalized many but for me the shock was waking up in the morning with “pigtails on the pillow next to me.”

We had a wonderful marriage. Home life is a school for character. I called my wife “My lord Katie.” We had six children together.

Katie was amazing. We always had guests in our home. Our meal tables were filled with students and strangers. We had great discussions about the Bible, grace and above all, about Jesus. My students recorded these conversations in what they called Table Talk.

I love married life. I said on one occasion “Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.”

Katie was famous for the beer she brewed. I made jokes about this. One of them went like this “Whoever drinks beer is quick to sleep. Whoever sleeps long does not sin. Whoever does not sin enters heaven. Thus, let us drink beer.”

In 1525 I wrote another book called On the Bondage of the Will. This was in response to the Dutchman Erasmus. The previous year he had written On the Freedom of the Will. Erasmus argued that although salvation was almost entirely of grace there was a small but significant role our free will has to play.

I replied that salvation was exclusively by grace. I said our will was so utterly in bondage to sin that only God’s actions can save us. I am so glad that my salvation is in God’s hands rather than my own from beginning to end. 7

I regret that the older I became the more cantankerous I was. In my later years I said some nasty things about Jews, the Pope and my theological enemies with words that I cannot repeat now, for they are too vulgar.

I had many arguments with other Christians in my lifetime. This came out of my desire to contend for the truth. For I believed the Bible means what it says. To tolerate falsehood is to lead God’s people down the wrong path.

There was another Reformer in Zurich called Ulrich Zwingli. We battled back and forth about the Lord’s Supper. Zwingli said the Lord’s Supper was a memorial meal in which a Christian renewed their commitment to Christ.

I said the Lord’s Supper is not primarily what we do but what God does. Through the supper God gives Christ and all his saving benefit. So Christ is truly present in the supper.

This is possible because Jesus’ human nature has been glorified and he now has the divine attribute of omnipresence, so even though he is at the right hand of the Father, he is everywhere, including the communion table.

We had a big debate about this at Marburg in 1529. Zwingli did acknowledge that Christ was spiritually present in the supper. But we could not agree on the question of the real, physical presence of Jesus.

People have always had strong opinions about me. One person said I was “a demon in the appearance of a man.” Another said “Luther alone is right.” But both of them are wrong. The truth is probably in the middle.

For the last 15 years of my life I was dreadfully afflicted with all sorts of illnesses. Despite this I wrote commentaries on Galatians and Genesis. I finished my translation of the Old Testament so that my complete German Bible was published in 1534.

I preached regularly and I taught at the university. I died at my home town Eisleben at the age of 62. People are celebrating my life this month. But I only want to be remembered as a man who trusted Christ alone for my salvation.

I understand it has been said that in most libraries books about me occupy more shelves than those concerned with any other figure, except Jesus. I don’t know whether that is true. But if you have a choice to read about me or read about Jesus, please read about him.

Thank you for listening to my story. I am sorry I have been long-winded but I understand you are used to that. May you know salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.