| October 31, 1999 | No Fear | Romans 3:19-28
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
No fear! That is a slogan you see from time to time on tshirts and pasted across car and truck windows. I believe that the slogan came originally from a brand of wakeboards which are an alternative to waterskis. The slogan also got attached to snowboards, which are an alternative to snow skis. The idea behind the slogan is that if one is going to engage in these "extreme sports," very challenging and sometimes dangerous sporting activities, you can not suceed if you are afraid. You need to have "no fear" to participate in these activities.
Christianity is a religion of no fear. Surely we confess in our Small Catechism that we should "fear, love, and trust in God above all things." However, we do not mean fear in the same sense. We ought to honor God and treat Him with His due respect. This is what is meant here by fear.
Christianity is a relgion which should remove fear, in the sense of fear of dying or fear of injury. It should remove in us the fear of punishment and fear of the future. This is the comfort of "no fear" which our Lord wants to offer us, yet we are often wandering from this wonderful truth.
Reformation Day is always October 31. Unfortunately, few people celebrate the Reformation as much as other things on that day. It is the day which generates an income for businesses second only the that day they call Christmas, yet not much of the money being spent is going into Reformation Day. That is a shame, for rather than removing fear with the comfort of our Lord we fall back into dwelling on fear.
Of course, the Reformation is all about fear being removed. It is celebrated on October 31, for on that day in the year 1517, Martin Luther made a public declaration of his desire to debate some things that the Christian church in Western Europe was teaching at that time. God's hand was at work leading Luther back to the truths clearly expressed in the Holy Scriptures and this led him away from fear.
Martin Luther had been very afraid. You see, he was taught that the way he lived and what he did with his life would determine his standing before God. If God was happy with what he did then he would go to heaven, but if God wasn't happy, then he would suffer. So, the goal would be to determine exactly what God wanted and try to do these things. This Luther was trying to do. Still, there was always the question in his mind as to whether he was doing enough. In fact, it was more than a question, it was a doubt. "Have I done enough?" This doubt is no less than a fear. "What if I haven't done enough?"
Luther even felt that God was angry with him because he didn't do enough. He thought that his own efforts would never be enough to please God. He tried everything that was suggested. He joined a monastary. He stopped eating and drinking and sleeping for periods. He exposed himself unprotected to cold. He whipped himself. He did all this to try to find some relief from his fears. He wanted to know that he had done enough. He didn't find this comfort.
Luther had been led into fear because he did not understand the doctrine of justification correctly. He was taught incorrectly about this important teaching, which describes how we become right with God. Justification deals with how God's justice is completed against us. It shows how justice can be accomplished for the charges against us. Which charges? The charges for our many sins. How do these get settled? How is the court case brought to a conclusion? These are the questions which are answered by the doctrine of justification. More than anything else, the Reformation was about the doctrine of justification. The understanding of this doctrine was corrupted over the years but through the Reformation God returned us back to the correct understanding.
How important is this teaching anyway? It is described as the main teaching of the Scriptures. The Lutheran Confessions call it the chief article of our faith. It actually defines what it means to "believe in Jesus." Believing in Jesus is more than simply thinking that such a person by that name existed. It is even more than believing that He died on the cross. Believing in Jesus means believing in what Jesus gives us. If you believe that justification does not come as a free gift through Christ's shed blood, but that it comes some other way, then you believe in a different Jesus. The Doctrine of Justification defines who Jesus is and what He has done for us. To believe otherwise means to believe in some other god.
This important understanding of the teaching of justification, which the Scriptures plainly give, was lost during the Middle Ages. It was the time period known as the Reformation during which God so kindly restored the true and saving understanding of justification. God brought us back from falsehood into the light of our true Savior, Jesus.
As more and more people learned of this correct understanding, primarily through the writings of Martin Luther, they began to value it. It took them from fear into God's comfort. This teaching was so important that many Christians were willing to fight and die for it. Martin Luther even had the sentence of death passed upon him by the established church simply because he taught the truth. He was never captured by the authorities who passed this sentence because he was protected by local rulers who understood and also valued the proper understanding of justification. Others, however, sacrificed their lives for the cause. Many died in wars that ensued as the battle for the truth of Christianity also boiled over into political battles.
Red is our liturgical color for the day. That reminds us of the blood shed by those who fought for the truth. It also reminds us of the operation of the Holy Spirit through the tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was at work in the Reformation, calling, gathering and enlightening the Church on earth.
It is a blessed thing to be able to celebrate the Reformation. I had been looking for ways to make today's service special. However, that was the wrong idea. It is truly God who makes our Divine Services special. Any efforts we put into it are insignificant compared to the blessing we receive from our God. Thus we call this "Divine Service" for God comes to serve us. Today He serves us the holy meal, His Body and Blood and that presence of God with us makes it a special day.
It is, however, also a day of sadness because of what is going on in Augsburg, Germany. There it is a tragedy with the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. You can find a press release on this as an insert in your bulletin. It should bring tears to our eyes to see compromise on the central teaching of our faith. How sad to bow down to the god of unity, when what is present is not even true unity. Rather, this Declaration is a matter, partly of blurring the definition of terms, and partly of agreeing that the differences are not that important. How can this be done with the chief article of our faith? I have no answer. With this declaration, however, what was gained through the Reformation and through the lives lost has been thrown away. "Protect us from this, heavenly Father!"
We ought to therefore review the correct understanding of justification. Let us begin by looking at where we would be without it. We would be back in a state of fear. That would really be the only message I could offer you, one of fear. We would fear the wrath of a holy and awesome God. We must tremble before a righteous God, who does all things right and demands perfection out of us. We should fear.
This our text brings out by speaking of those under the law. That is where we are without justification, under the law. The law speaks to us about God's demands and our failure to meet those demands. The law only shows us that we are sinners. No one can be declared righteous by the law. In other words, we are not able to do enough to satisify God's demands and make ourselves right with him. Hearing the law only makes us conscious of our sins. This is where Martin Luther found himself. No amount of his own actions could ever make him right with God. Nothing he could do would make up for his sins. We find ourselves in the same boat.
The Law also silences every mouth. We have nothing to say about our failures. No excuses will work. No denial of God or of His law will suffice. Some people, no, many people, try to make these excuses and try to deny God and His law today, but they will be silenced. They will have nothing to say at the day of judgment. There will be no escaping and without justification, living under the law, we are simply tongue-tied.
Into our terrible situation comes God to rescue us. He aways comes to save us and deliver us from our troubles. However, in many times and with many people, God's help is rejected. The Holy Spirit did seek to offer help to Martin Luther through the Word. The Holy Spirit seems to always work through the word. For Luther, it was that phrase "righteousness of God." You can see it in our text: "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify." What was this righteousness of God? Luther had been taught that it was God's righteousness whereby He punishes the unrighteous sinner. The righteousness of God was something which He had, and because of it you were going to be punished if you were a sinner.
The Holy Spirit led Luther to see, however, that this is, instead, a righteousness which comes from God and is given to us. The righteousness is a gift. That is the only meaning of the phrase which could fit into our text. It says all: "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." There is the doctrine of justification laid out for us. It is righteousness coming from God as a free gift. It is righteousness which freely justifies us. It comes as a gift, by grace, not something for which we must pay. It comes by Christ Jesus.
Luther had started out hating that phrase: "righteousness of God." He even confessed to hating God, for he could never feel like he was right with God, that is, that he was justified. After the Holy Spirit turned him around and helped Him see the truth, then he loved that phrase. The righteousness of God is sweet music to our ears, for with that phrase we hear of a blessed gift we are given.
This gift comes through our Lord Jesus. It is Jesus that ends up paying for our sins. Thus the text says: "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement." Jesus was the sacrifice to pay for our sins. He was the one who gave His life so that we might gain righteousness, eternal life, and heaven. Jesus gave His life and we receive the righteousness of God.
The Reformation was a time for God to again teach us the truth expressed clearly in His Word. That truth takes us from a state of fear to one of "no fear!" We need not fear God's punishment for our sins. We need not fear that we have not done enough to be saved. We need not fear that our sins are too great. We need not fear death, the devil or eternal condemnation. Instead of fear, we can know comfort. We can know the comfort that comes from the righteousness of God-a free gift given to us. We can know the comfort that we have all that we need given without cost. We can be assured because one was given as the atoning sacrifice for us, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.