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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] It's the Reformation Day Drive to Church podcast. Dear Saints of St. Paul Lutheran Church, God's peace be with you. It's exciting that we.
[00:00:08] Reformation Day, we had it at St. Michael's a couple weeks ago, but now at Reformation Day, this sense that the festive season is upon us. So October 31st, it's always the Sunday before Reformation Day that gets the Reformation day celebration because November 1st is All Saints. So it's November 1st or the Sunday after that gets All Saints. We kind of move the those feasts to the appropriate Sunday. So October 25th today, but we have Reformation Day today.
[00:00:39] A couple of beautiful things to make note of. First of all, we're using Divine Service setting five, which is just great. It's Luther's German Mass, so it has all these hymns in place of the canticles. Kyrie, Godfather, Isaiah, Mighty Seer, all of these hymns that Luther wrote. Some of them are tough, but we've been doing this for enough years now.
[00:01:00] I think we've got it down, especially Isaiah, Mighty See? Or when it feels like the pillars are shaking and the whole church is shaking. Oh, it's so good. Well, let's pray and then we'll talk about what we've got today, what we're doing and so forth.
[00:01:19] Almighty and gracious Lord, pour out your Holy Spirit on your faithful people. Keep us steadfast in your grace and truth. Protect and deliver us in times of temptation, defend us against all enemies and grant to your church your saving peace through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[00:01:42] First, why October 31st for Reformation Sunday, when it should be June 25th, the publication of the Augsburg Confession. The answer is everybody loves the story of luther nailing the 95 DC. So October 31, 1517, everything in Wittenberg was getting ready for the All Saints celebration. Remember we mentioned that during the Middle Ages, they had so many saints on the calendar that they ran out of days. So they picked November 1st for All Saints, which is really like all the other saints.
[00:02:11] And in Wittenberg, the Prince Frederick the Wise. Yes. Had this huge relic collection. I mean, massive. Some people say it was the second largest collection of relics outside of the Vatican. And he would put them all out on big tables in the castle church. So people from all over would come to Wittenberg for November 1st to go see all these relics. And you get all this time out of Purgatory for doing proper devotions. So the night before Luther writes his theses, now his theses are about indulgences. Relics and indulgences are not quite the same thing, but they're all connected.
[00:02:47] It's all of this kind of grace by transfer, that there's a treasury of merit, like some sort of collection of this substance of grace that you can access through devotion, through things, through even paying money.
[00:03:04] So Tetzel was going around, he never came to Wittenberg, but he was going around selling these indulgences. A coin in the coffer springs a soul. Wait, A coin in the coffer rings a soul from purgatory springs, raising money for Albrecht of Mainz to buy his second bishopric. And the Pope gave him permission to do it as long as he sent half the money back to build St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral down there in Rome. So all this was happening.
[00:03:31] There was all this trafficking in relics and indulgences.
[00:03:36] It was the economic engine of the day. And Luther says, this is ridiculous. So he writes his 95 theses against indulgences. And surprisingly enough, if you go and read the 95 theses this week, which you should, I recommend it. You'll notice, man Luther's not very Lutheran. He still believes in Purgatory, still believes in the authority of the Pope, all this kind of stuff. But his complaint against Rome is not that, ah, you're making this too, too hard to be saved.
[00:04:03] He says, you're making it too easy. If you can just buy forgiveness, then why did Jesus have to die?
[00:04:11] What's the deal?
[00:04:13] And so he comes with this great critique of medieval Catholicism, and it ends with this crescendo. If the Pope can get people out of Purgatory, why doesn't he do it out of love instead of charging people for it?
[00:04:27] This is a pretty good question.
[00:04:30] So that sparked the conversation. The debate which became the Reformation and the years that followed clarified the argument. The Lutheran argument, I would suggest, which is from the Scriptures, grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, and the Roman argument, which is trying to add on, well, obscure the Scriptures because tradition and the Pope is needed, and obscure grace because merit is needed, and obscure faith because works are needed for salvation and so forth.
[00:05:01] So we have this remembrance of this great theological debate and a celebration in some ways of where we landed on that debate on the side of biblical clarity. Our first reading, and this is the traditional one year reading, it's not an Old Testament reading, it's an epistle reading. In fact, it's a reading from Revelation, and it's amazing. It's Revelation 14, 6 and 7. And why is this Chosen on Reformation Day because the Wittenberg theologians, even during the time of Luther and afterwards thought that this was a prophecy of Luther.
[00:05:37] I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.
[00:05:56] So the old Lutherans understood that that angel flying in the midst of heaven was a prophecy of Luther. I say, well, yeah, also all the preachers that stand up and preach the name of Jesus. So maybe not a specific promise of Luther, although I think Pastor Smith is planning to preach that it should be understood as a prophecy of Luther at the deaf church. So if you want to hear that, come over to JDLC in the afternoon. That'll be exciting. The Epistle is Romans, this great exposition of God's grace and faith. Romans 3, starting at.
[00:06:31] We know that whatever the law speaks, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may become accountable to God.
[00:06:42] For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
[00:06:51] So that's that preaching of the law, and especially the preaching that we cannot do anything to add to our righteousness that avails before the throne of God. We cannot do anything to add to our own justification. In fact, trying to do something to add to our justification makes it worse.
[00:07:08] This is these exclusive participles that we talk about. Grace alone, faith alone. We see when it says that apart from. From the works, by the works of the law, no human will be justified in his sight. So Paul and all the prophets and all the Scriptures are very interested in us making this distinction between faith and works and knowing that our salvation is not through our efforts or works or whatever. It's good to do works to serve the neighbor and to be better people and even to bless and serve God. But it does not help us on the Judgment Day if we are trying to clothe ourselves in our own works and righteousness to stand before God on the Judgment day. Whoo. Doomed.
[00:07:50] Doomed.
[00:07:52] But this is verse 21. Now, the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:08:06] So the righteousness that we're given by faith when we believe the promise is not our righteousness or even Adam and Eve's righteousness. It's the righteousness of God.
[00:08:18] This is an amazing promise.
[00:08:20] What just an incredible text. And that's the righteousness that comes by faith, not by works. There's no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift. This is not a wage or something earned or deserved.
[00:08:41] It's a total gift received by faith.
[00:08:46] Beautiful. And after that, we'll sing A mighty fortress, Psalm 46. We have Psalm 46 first between the Revelation and the Epistle, and then we're going to sing Psalm 46 in a mighty fortress. That's the hymn that Luther based.
[00:08:58] Sorry. It's the psalm that Luther based the hymn on. He would say to Melanchthon, come on, Master Philip, let's go sing Psalm 46. And they'd go sing A Mighty Fortress. I remember years ago trying to figure out, how in the world is this psalm related to this hymn?
[00:09:13] And that's a good exercise, especially for you young theologians, for the children to look at the psalm and look at the hymn and say, how did Luther get that from that?
[00:09:25] I spent a couple of months looking at it, but then something.
[00:09:29] I saw something I'll tell you. Well, okay, don't listen. If you want to try to figure it out yourself, which is better.
[00:09:37] But if you just want to hear. It's the picture of the psalm is the same exact picture that Luther paints in the hymn. And it's the picture of being in a besieged city surrounded by enemies.
[00:09:49] It's armies in the psalm, it's demons in the hymn.
[00:09:53] But we're safe because God is with us.
[00:09:56] The Lord is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. But then, as we're living safe in the city, the Lord himself goes out to destroy all those enemies.
[00:10:07] And as he's doing it, breaking the spear and setting the chariots on fire, he looks back at us, watching him from the city wall, and he says, you be still.
[00:10:15] Know that I'm God.
[00:10:17] Don't move.
[00:10:18] I hold the field forever. Jesus is the champion.
[00:10:22] Amazing.
[00:10:23] The gospel lesson is John, chapter eight. It's in the middle of this massive debate that Jesus is having with the Pharisees. And it's getting ugly. They're accusing him of being demon possessed, of not having a father. Jesus says, your father's the devil.
[00:10:39] But the key and the heart of the text and the great glory, Jesus says in verse 34, I say to you, everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin.
[00:10:49] So that we Think that we express our freedom by sinning. Look, I can do what I want, but Jesus says no. If you commit a sin, you're a slave to it. You're bound to that sin. You're serving that sin. But if the Son. This is verse 36. If the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
[00:11:11] This theme of slavery and freedom runs throughout the Scriptures and runs wonderfully throughout the debate of the Reformation. Also, it taps into this teaching from our Lord Jesus about being slave or being free.
[00:11:30] I want you to. We have a festive bulletin tomorrow, so I want you to make sure you take a look at it.
[00:11:37] All three, let's see, three paintings are three variations on a theme.
[00:11:42] So the painting on the front is the Weimar altarpiece. You'll notice the crucifixion right in the center.
[00:11:49] Then Jesus raised on the left.
[00:11:53] And all of these paintings, they're all chronic paintings.
[00:11:58] They're all so beautiful and so good to study.
[00:12:03] One of the reasons I like this one, the Weimar piece, so profoundly on the front cover, is that people, when they talk about the crucifixion, they say, well, we believe Jesus rose from the dead. He didn't stay on the cross. Well, he's there on the cross, and right next to him, he's raised from the dead, spearing the devil right in the mouth, blap and stomping over the skeleton. And there's a skeleton with a tongue hanging out. You know, skeletons don't normally have tongues, but this one is really dead.
[00:12:31] So that it shows Jesus crucified and risen. It has a picture of both. And then you'll notice three guys over there on the right, John the Baptist pointing at Jesus, and then an old guy with a divided beard, white beard. And then Luther standing there with the open Bible, pointing to the Scriptures. It's. The painting is big enough that the Scriptures actually are written words. And I think it's the first few verses that Luther quotes in Smolkhold under the first article.
[00:12:57] But the guy in the middle, you'll notice, has the blood of Jesus flying through the air and landing right on his head. That guy is Cranach, the mayor of Wittenberg, the friend of Luther, but more importantly, the painter of the picture.
[00:13:12] So he put himself in there, and he put the blood of Jesus falling right on him.
[00:13:16] Right above that is the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness. And above that is the angel singing to the shepherds out in the field. And down to the left side is a guy being driven by the devil and death into the Flames of hell. Note that, because when you open up to the center page, you see that same idea presented in a different way. This is also Chranach's allegory of law and Gospel.
[00:13:43] And you'll notice the tree, though instead of having Christ in the center, the tree is there.
[00:13:48] And you look, see how the tree is growing with leaves on the right and its dead branches on the left. And you'll notice that the bronze serpent is there behind Jesus. Notice in this version, Cranach and Luther aren't there. But this guy, kind of naked guy, always got a little loincloth on, is standing there. That's you and me.
[00:14:09] And on the left side, under the law, he's being driven into hell. But on the right side, he's looking at Jesus. And the blood of Jesus is pouring right into his heart.
[00:14:18] It's so beautiful.
[00:14:20] That's the preaching of the Gospel.
[00:14:23] And there's Jesus again in triumph, stomping the devil, stomping death, stabbing the devil in the mouth in his resurrected glory. And then on this one in the middle, you'll see the feet of Jesus disappearing. That's the Ascension. And right above the cross, don't miss this, you see a little baby with a cross. That's Jesus flying down to Mary on the hill there. So it has the Incarnation, the crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension all right there on the Gospel side, on the law side, you see Moses and the Pharisees, death and the devil, Adam and Eve and Jesus coming in judgment.
[00:15:02] This is. I mean, this is like one painting that explains the whole of it. And then we have it on the back page. The same idea, a different version. There's five or six different versions of this on the back page. You see that? And this is really special. There's death on that side.
[00:15:18] There's Adam and Eve in the garden. There's Moses getting the Ten Commandments from heaven.
[00:15:24] On the right, we see heaven opened, where Jesus is coming out and then ascending.
[00:15:29] But here the guy sits in the middle and look, even John the Baptist and Moses is pointing to Jesus. Just perfect.
[00:15:37] So make sure to take these pictures and study them. They're just such important.
[00:15:43] And remember, the Reformation was taught not only by the preaching, but also by the singing and also by the art that was being produced. It's phenomenal.
[00:15:52] Absolutely.
[00:15:54] So this Reformation, so we'll have the celebration of it, but we'll be thinking not about that, the triumph of Luther, but the triumph of Jesus.
[00:16:05] It's really important for us to remember that the church is built on Christ.
[00:16:14] Every now and again, you know, I'll make a YouTube video and I'll get some Roman Catholic apologists arguing, and they'll say, you follow.
[00:16:26] You follow a man, Luther. We follow Christ.
[00:16:31] And my response is, look, first of all, you actually follow a man. You have a pope. We do not.
[00:16:38] Come on, what are you doing?
[00:16:41] And second, if anyone is following Luther, shame.
[00:16:46] This is the whole point that we have the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are clear and beautiful, and that's our confidence that the Scriptures themselves point and the Holy Spirit uses them to expose our own sinfulness and our own desperate need for the Savior, and then to give us our Savior, Jesus, and the hope and life and peace that come from him. So God be praised for the debate of the Reformation, the clarity of the Gospel that came from it. And God be praised that we get to celebrate the Gospel, the forgiveness of all of our sins, this morning. Drive safe. We'll see you soon.