Romans 3:19-28
October 26, 2008
Reformation
Day
Romans 3:19-28
October 26, 2008
“Why Be A Lutheran?”
“Why
be a Lutheran?”
It seems to me that Reformation Day is an appropriate time to ask that question.
On this day, we remember Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the door of the
Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, way back in 1517.
In the 95 Theses, Luther set into motion the reformation of the church,
by asking a lot of questions of the church. Today, 491 years after the fact,
with 491 years of Lutheran history behind us, seems like a good time to raise
the question,
“Why
be a Lutheran?”
It
may be a question that you have never considered. Maybe you were born, baptized,
and raised a Lutheran, and never gave it any thought. That’s just what you
are—a Lutheran. Or maybe, you were born, baptized, and raised a Lutheran, and
went AWOL for a while. I did that, like lots of our young people still do in
their teens and twenties. But when I came back to church, I came back to the
church of my youth. It felt right, like I belonged there. I was a Lutheran.
Maybe
you married into the Lutheran Church. My husband Tom grew up as a Baptist. But
after attending church with me said, “You
Lutherans really have it together.” And he became a Lutheran.
Some
couples who have different denominational backgrounds come to the Lutheran
Church as a compromise. A Roman Catholic bride and a Pentecostal groom may
choose the Lutheran Church as a middle ground—just enough liturgy for her, and
just enough freedom of expression for him. Each of us, in our personal history,
can locate our own reasons for becoming or remaining a Lutheran.
Some
reasons are less serious than others. We Lutherans are famous for our coffee,
our potlucks, and as you can see this morning, for our Bake Sales. In Minnesota,
where I grew up, Lutherans are infamous for their Lutefisk Suppers. That might
be a reason NOT to be a Lutheran. Garrison Keeler has made a career out of
poking good-natured fun at Lutherans for their mild-mannered good-nature, their
lack of pridefulness, their fondness for Jell-O, and their tendency to classify
it as a salad. Suffice it to say that it does take the patience of a saint to
make that multi-layered Jell-O salad that requires you to pour a layer and wait
an hour before pouring the next of many layers. And the response of the saintly
chef if she is complimented on her creation? “Oh,
gosh, it’s nothing.”
But
to speak only of the humorous reasons for being Lutheran is to sell both Martin
Luther and the church named for him short. A question from our Bible study last
week cuts to the heart of what sets Lutherans apart:
a)
The Bible teaches us how to behave in a way that causes God to accept and
love us.
-OR-
b)
The Bible teaches us to respond to the fact that God has already forgiven
us and already loves us.
Luther’s
great revelation was that “b” is the correct answer. It took him many years
and a great deal of both soul-searching and Bible-searching to finally reach
that answer. The Roman Church of Luther’s day taught just the opposite—that
we are only made acceptable to God because of our own goodness and merit.
That
seems to make some sense even in this day, because that is the way our society
is structured. If you want to be successful in school, work hard and get good
grades. That’s how you’ll get ahead. It’s the same in the workplace.
Distinguish yourself from the pack by your stellar performance, and you’ll be
rewarded. And so it seems to follow that if we do God-pleasing things, that is,
good works, and keeping God’s Law perfectly, then we will be loved and
accepted by God.
The
only problem with that logic is that human beings are incapable of being
perfect—as St. Paul writes; “All
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It was in fact in St.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans that Luther found his answer;
“No
human being will be justified in God’s sight by works of the Law. The
righteousness of God has been disclosed apart from the Law, through faith in
Jesus Christ. Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are
justified by his grace, as a gift, to prove that he himself is righteous and
that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. For we hold that a person is
justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the Law.”
This
passage from Romans answers the question, “Why
be a Lutheran?”, and is the source of that distinctly Lutheran
doctrine of “Justification
by grace through faith.”
To
be justified means to be made righteous, or acceptable in God’s sight. Grace
means that God’s acceptance and love for us comes as a gift, and is not earned
by our own effort or merit. Faith in the saving work of Christ makes us
OK with God. And we are then set free to serve both God and others out of love,
rather than fear. We can respond to the fact that God has already forgiven us
and already loves us. By grace we are liberated from a tiresome and joyless
religious life of earning points, keeping score, justifying ourselves, and
looking good. Our life energy can be used to live joyfully, loving God and
serving our neighbor, knowing that there is forgiveness when we fail.
Why
be a Lutheran?
Come for the grace, stay for the coffee. AMEN