It is amazing how ignorant we are of our own history. As Lutherans this is particularly true. Reformation Day falls on October 31, commemorating the day when Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. We would be wrong, however, if we thought this was really the start of Lutheranism. In the world of 1517 many things were going on and the nails Luther pounded in were quickly lost in political intrigue, Vatican machinations, Muslim invaders, and ordinary life. It took Charles V four years to convene in Wartburg and another nine years before he had an opening on his calendar to deal with the Lutherans. In January of 1530 he called a diet or conference to meet in Augsburg in April to discuss the Lutherans. Luther was still an outlaw so layman Philip Melanchthon wrote the final draft of the Lutheran position. On June 25, 1530, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V relented and heard the Augsburg Confession but he was not interested in the theologians. Seven Lutheran princes and the representatives of two imperial free cities stood by this confession. This is the true Reformation Day. Then fifty years later, this confession was affirmed by the Formula of Concord.
Before Augsburg, this could have been characterized as a little theological tiff among members of a very small monastic group in a backwater town in Germany. When the men with titles stood up before the Emperor, it became a credible movement for the reform of the Church and the restoration of the catholic faith.
We know all about Luther but not so much about those who were willing to put their lives on the line to stand for the Gospel. On this day of June 25, we not only thank and praise God for the example of the fearless confessors of Augsburg (who, by the way, were all laymen), but also ask Him to preserve us in that same confession of faith and to pass on this saving faith to future generations. This we do mindful of our Lord’s own words: “Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven”
My friends, we live in troubled times. It is a world literally turned upside down in which our public confession before the world is even more urgent than it was 493 years ago. We need today as we had then, faithful and fearless laymen and women to give witness to the truth of Scriptures not only about salvation but about His creation of male and female, His establishment of marriage and family, the sacred character of life from natural beginning to end, and the truth that endures forever.
Last year about this time we began a Bible study on a Christian worldview in a world that seems to have no room for God and His eternal truth. Then as now, it is important not simply to remember what is at stake but whose voices must be raised to confess Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This is not a day for the Church to depend solely upon pastors and theologians but a day for every baptized Christian to become thoroughly familiar with God’s Word and stand up to give witness to the truth of that Word in Christ our Savior.
A couple of weeks ago we celebrate the Commemoration of St. Barnabas, Pastor, and focused on the need for us to raise up and form young men for the pastoral office and men and women for all the church vocations. Last week we were reminded that God has not surrendered the Church to our care but has promised to work through us to grow His Church and how we were called to harvest the fruits of God’s work of planting, tending, and caring for the seeds of faith He has placed in hearts and minds by the agency of His Word and Sacrament.
Now today comes the promise that our faithful witness will not be forgotten nor will it fail to accomplish God’s purpose. Whoever confesses Me before men, I will confess before My Father in heaven. That is our Lord’s promise. Its words are not meant for seminary only but for husbands and wives who honor the Lord by living faithfully the covenant of marriage according to the Lord’s own design and direction. These words are meant for parents who are given not only the responsibility for but the duty to raise their children up in the faith, bring them to the waters of baptism, and bring them to the worship services of God’s House, that they too may kneel with us all at the rail and feast upon Christ’s body and blood. These words are meant for neighbors and workers who lives their lives not hidden but displayed before those around them – testifying to what God has spoken, to virtue and goodness, and to the renouncing of evil’s words and works.
If the Reformation fails now, the responsibility for that failure will lie on both sides of the altar rail. If we believe that God worked in time to recall and restore His Church to the clear voice of the Gospel then, we must also be ready and willing to take up that same cause in our own age and generation. We have a duty to perform in preserving the preaching and teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments of Christ among us but we also have a promise. The Lord Jesus watches over us, works in us, and works through us so that our bold confession of Christ here will be remembered and celebrated in heaven as well.
But we also have a warning. If we fail to confess Him here and now, He cannot confess us as His own before the Father. This is not a dire warning for our age but the solemn and sober words of Christ for every age and generation. Faith is not a private thing that lives so deep down within us that no one knows what we believe. Faith is by nature public. What we believe and confess will always shape our words and actions. This is not new but the urgency of this moment in time should not be lost to us. We are called to be transparent Christians – a people whose faith living in hearts is the same as the faith living in our words and deeds.
We have a wonderful congregation. We sit in the pews with wonderful people of faith. What happens here every Sunday is nothing short of amazing. God’s Word is the beating heart of our life together as a church. The Sacraments of Christ are administered with great faithfulness and reverence. The song of faith raised within this house of God is clear and confident. What we are being called to do is to take what is the hallmark of our life together right here, and to make that Word, witness, and prayer the hallmark of our homes as well. What we are being called to do is to let Christ shine through us to those around us even as Christ shines right here in every Divine Service, in every Sunday school room, and in every Bible study. It is the call to a seamless life in which who we are here, is the same as who we are at home, in the neighborhood, in the workplace, were we shop, and in our leisure. The power and outcome always rests in God’s hands. But let us demonstrate that belief with courage and confidence as live in Christ our Savior and serve Him in words and works. In the Holy Name of Jesus. Amen
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