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Reformation Sunday: Martin Luther Rediscovers the Gospel CASKET EMPTY Sermon Series Kenwood Baptist Church Pastor David Palmer October 29, 2017

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Reformation Sunday: Martin Luther Rediscovers the Gospel CASKET EMPTY Sermon Series Kenwood Baptist Church Pastor David Palmer October 29, 2017 Reformation Sunday: Martin Luther Rediscovers the Gospel CASKET EMPTY Sermon Series Kenwood Baptist Church Pastor David Palmer October 29, 2017 TEXT: Romans 1:16-17 REFORMATION SUNDAY This morning is a special Sunday. It is special for number of reasons. It is special because we remember the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation or Re-formation of the church. This date in Christian history is associated with Martin Luther's posting of the 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Now, many of you as modern people feel like 500 years ago is too long to have an impact on us. Yet, let me say that at our house that's like a contemporary event. This action, though, 500 years ago, has shaped all of us in ways that we don't even realize, and it is in this event that Martin Luther rediscovered the gospel in the text of Scripture. This happens again and again when anyone is born again. It's a rediscovery of the gospel in the pages of Scripture. It is why the priority of Christian ministry is shaped around the proclamation of the Word of God. It is why we care so much that our children are instructed in the ways of Christ. It is why we place the weight of our authority to guide our lives on Scripture and why it is a call within this re-formation to worship God. I know some of you are rusty on this event and this time, so I found this Internet meme to help us. A meme of Martin Luther has this statement: “I don't always nail things to doors, but when I do, stuff happens.” What I want to do this morning is to walk through the life of Luther in three main movements. You may be wondering why this matters. It matters because so much that we do the Lord used this man to reorient the church to: the priority of Scripture, the rediscovery of the gospel, and the righteousness that we have by faith in Jesus Christ. There are three movements I want to move through. In the first movement, I want to look at Luther's early biography to the point of his Reformation breakthrough. In the second movement, we will look at how his rediscovery of Page 1 of 15 the gospel brought him into conflict with his world. Sometimes when you discover God's truth, it brings you into an adversarial relationship with your own contemporary moment. This reaches a climax in his famous encounter at the imperial assembly, the Diet of Worms, which we will look at. Then, in our third movement, we will look at Luther's adult labor to recast what it is about when we gather together as a church family. I spent probably at least 100 hours assembling this message, and I have 28 pages of notes, so let's get started. Father, we thank You for this gift to pause to remember where we have come from and to help guide where we are going. Lord, we thank You for using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. We ask, Holy Spirit, that You would come and You would guide us as we look at Luther's life and legacy and the illumination of Your Word. We pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen. Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. He was the son of Hans and Margaretta. His parents were devout and working-class people. His father was a copper miner and he earnestly desired for his son to become a lawyer. In 1502, at the age of 19, Luther received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Erfurt, and he ranked unimpressively 30th out of 57 students, so there's hope for us all. In January 1505, Luther received his Master of Arts and moved up in class rank, ranking second among 17 graduates. The summer after completing his Master’s degree was the first of three signal events that culminated in what scholars call “Luther's Reformation breakthrough.” On his journey home from law school on July 2, 1505, Luther was caught in a violent thunderstorm and he was hurled to the ground by lightning. In that single moment, he saw the drama and the frailty of human existence before the power of God, and he cried out in that moment to his father's saint, the patroness of miners. He yelled out: “Help me, St. Anne; I will become a monk” (Here I Stand, 18). He fulfilled this vow. He feared for his soul, and two weeks later, after graduating from law school, he vowed himself to God and entered the monastery, an Augustine monastery in Erfurt. He was accepted as a novice and entered into the regular rhythm of monastery life. Prayer took place seven times a day, spiritual exercises, and the regular confession of sin. He was 21 years old. Page 2 of 15 The second of these important events that shaped his life and search for right standing with God took place on May 2, 1507. Martin was invited to celebrate his first mass in the monastery, and at this occasion, on this moment, he came before the altar and began the opening words: “We offer unto You the living, the true, the eternal God,” and of that moment, standing in the presence of Almighty God, Luther himself wrote later what happened at these words: “I was utterly terror-stricken. I thought to myself, ‘With what tongue shall I address Almighty God, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I, that I should lift up my eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround Him. At his nod, the earth trembles. And shall I, a miserable little pygmy, say “I want this, I ask for that?” For I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking to the living, eternal and true God’” (Here I Stand, 25). He was overwhelmed at standing in the presence of Almighty God, and this awe-inspiring transcendence of God strikes us as a distant note from another country, and yet it is one that we know to be true. How can we as human beings, how can we as descendants of Adam, stand rightly before Almighty God? Luther managed to get through this service, his first mass, but he embarked on a quest to obtain right standing before God. He pursued monastic discipline in earnest following the so-called “councils of perfection”: chastity, poverty, obedience, fasting, and mortification of the flesh. Whatever good works he might do to save himself, he was resolved to perform in earnest. Luther wrote about this later, He said: “I was a good monk, and I kept the rule of my order so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery it was I. All my brothers in the monastery who knew me will bear me out.” (Here I Stand, 30). In his search for righteousness and right standing before God, Luther also availed himself of the medieval doctrine of the merit of the saints. In medieval theology it was taught that sins were accounted for, but that there were certain people who had done more good than bad, and they had obtained a treasury of merit. The lives of the saints, Mary, and above all Christ had accumulated a treasury that could be transferred or applied, and this was bestowed through papal decree called indulgences, where forgiveness of sins was offered as a transfer of merit. In 1511, Luther was transferred to the city of Wittenberg, and in Wittenberg he obtained a doctorate in theology in 1512 and then joined the faculty as the chair of the Bible department. It was this move that caused Luther to start reading and studying the Bible in earnest, and this is was a critical turning point in his life. One of my mentors told me: “As a pastor, all you have to do is con people into reading the text.” If you can just con people into reading the text, then Page 3 of 15 over time the text will take you to the living center, who is Christ Himself. The job of the preacher is not to tell entertaining and motivating stories. The job of the preacher is to unfold the meaning of the Scriptures so that you are encountered by the living Jesus Christ, and that can happen at any age. When we are reading the text of Scripture and it is taking us to the Person of Jesus Christ, we are following in the footsteps of the journey of this man. He began to be a Bible professor even though he stood outside of saving faith in Christ. He begins preaching and teaching and lecturing on the Psalms. A first step in his breakthrough was that as he was studying the Psalms, he saw in Psalms, like Psalm 22, the suffering of Christ depicted—the righteous One suffering on our behalf. This was a clue for him. How could the most righteous One of all suffer in the Psalms? This led him closer to Christ. However, it was his course on Paul's letter to Rome that proved the decisive turning point. As he began to lecture on Romans in 1517, Luther reached the opening chapter of Paul's letter. He noticed Paul's eagerness to preach and proclaim the gospel.
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