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“What Does It Mean To Be a Lutheran?
Ephesians 2:8-9

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost—September 20, 2015
Blocktoberfest Outdoor Service and Dedication of Trinity Lutheran School Memorial Shelter House

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

In 1839, when the Saxon Lutheran immigrants who founded our denomination, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, settled south of St. Louis, the first thing they did was to establish not only a church but also a school, to teach their children the faith.  It was the same here 25 years later, when my ancestors, and perhaps yours too, settled at Block, in the new state of Kansas, following the Civil War.

Imagine what a rugged wilderness all this was back then, truly the wild frontier of the American west.  For them just to survive was an enormous challenge, which most of us, pampered by modern life, probably could not endure.  They faced the constant threat of famine, disease, death, and destruction.  It was like one of those modern reality television shows where people are stranded in some remote area and forced to survive.  Only, for our forefathers and mothers here, it was reality, from which they could not easily escape.

And, yet, in the midst all their struggles just to survive, like the Saxon immigrants, one of the first things our ancestors here did was to establish not only Trinity Lutheran Church but also, to teach their children the faith, Trinity Lutheran School, which later stood for many years on this very spot.  In 1870, my own great-grandmother, Anna Adelheide Windler, was one the earliest graduates of Trinity Lutheran School.

Why was their Lutheran faith so important to our forebearers?  What does it mean to be a Lutheran?  In today’s Epistle Reading from Ephesians, the Apostle Paul sums up what our Lutheran heritage is really all about: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

There will be big celebrations two years from now on October 31, 2017.  That will mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.  For, it was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther, a German monk, theology professor, and pastor, started the Reformation, by nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, Germany.

What was the Reformation all about?  The church in those days taught salvation by works: you can and must earn your own salvation through good works. But, reading and studying the Bible, Luther came to understand that salvation by works is a false doctrine.  Deeply concerned for the souls of those being led astray, Luther wrote his 95 Theses, refuting salvation by works and other false doctrines, and challenging his fellow theology professors to a debate. To the door of the castle church Luther nailed the 95 Theses, not really as an act of defiance, but simply because the church door served as the community bulletin board.

The movement that began with the posting of Luther’s 95 Theses is called the “Reformation” because Luther and others wanted to reform the church and bring it back to the true teachings of the Word of God.  Many millions of Christians agreed with Martin Luther.  Their opponents began calling them Lutherans.  Although originally meant as an insult, the name Lutheran stuck, the movement spread, and so here we are today, in what was then the far-off “New World,” at Trinity LUTHERAN Church.

What does it mean to be a Lutheran?  First of all, it does not mean that we in any way worship Martin Luther.  He was only a man, a sinful man, who was the first to confess that he made many mistakes, and had many human foibles and failings.  Neither does being a Lutheran make us somehow superior, give us the right to a “holier than thou” attitude.  Because we certainly are not “holier than thou,” for we too are “poor, miserable, sinners,” as we confess in our Liturgy.

So, what does it mean to be a Lutheran?  The three fundamental principles of the Reformation, in Latin and English, are printed in today’s bulletin: Sola Gratia, Grace Alone; Sola Fide, Faith Alone; Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone.  Believing and living according to these three fundamental principles, that’s what it means to be a Lutheran.

Sola Gratia, Grace Alone.  “For it is by grace you have been saved . . .”  Salvation by works is a false doctrine because God does not give A’s for effort.  Earning your own salvation would require much more than trying your best.  99.9% is not good enough.  Earning your own salvation would require 100% perfection, 100% sinless perfection.  But, as we also confess in our Liturgy, the Bible declares in 1st John, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

“For it is by GRACE you have been saved . . . not by works.”  You have no hope for salvation in your own works, your own righteousness, your own merit.  You have hope only in God’s grace, his undeserved love.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  For God so loved YOU that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to be your Savior.  He came to earth and lived a perfect life in your place; he died on the cross as a payment for your sins.  That’s why there is a cross inscribed into the brickwork of this beautiful new building.

“On the third day he rose gain from the dead,” to assure you of forgiveness and eternal life.  Jesus is your substitute; all your sins are forgiven, not because you have earned it or deserve it, but because your substitute earned it and deserved it for you.  That is God’s grace, his underserved love toward you.  “For it is by grace you have been saved . . . not by works, so that no one can boast.”  As St. Paul says in [1st & 2nd] Corinthians, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

That is the first fundamental principle of the Reformation.  You are saved not because of your own works or merit but solely because of God’s grace: Sola Gratia, Grace Alone.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through FAITH.”  That is the second fundamental principle of the Reformation: Sola Fide, Faith Alone.  St. Paul says in Acts, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”  But, what about my believing?  What about my faith?  In the final analysis, isn’t my faith a work which I do?  Isn’t my faith a work which I do that ultimately is what makes me worthy of salvation?  No, your faith is not a work you do.  For, faith also is a gift of God, a work God does within you.  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, IT is the gift of God.”  St. Paul puts it this way in 1st Corinthians, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

It is not you yourself, but the Holy Spirit working faith in your heart, through the Word of God and the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this—faith—not from yourselves, it—faith—is the gift of God.”  Your faith in Jesus is “the gift of God.”  That is why Hebrews calls Jesus “the Author and Finisher of our Faith.”  “Therefore,” St. Paul says in Romans, “we conclude that a man is justified by faith, apart from works.”  “Not by works, so that no one can boast.”

But, salvation by faith alone does not mean good works are optional in your life.  Out of gratitude to God, in response to his love, you will serve him and seek to do his will.  The first verses of our text, Ephesians 2:8-9, are very familiar to us: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”  But, we forget about the next verse, Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to DO good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  St. Paul puts it this way in 2nd Corinthians: “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him, who died for them and rose again.”  You will be zealous in doing good works, not because you are trying to earn your salvation, but in response to God’s gift of salvation.

Those are the first and second fundamental principles of the Reformation: Sola Gratia, Grace Alone: “For it is by GRACE you have been saved . . . not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Sola Fide, Faith Alone: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through FAITH—and this not from yourselves, IT is the gift of God.”  The third fundamental principle of the Reformation is Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone.

St. John says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  But, by what standard will you “test the spirits”?  What standard will you use to separate the false prophets from the true prophets of God?  What standard will you use to test my preaching and teaching, to judge whether I am a false prophet or a true prophet of God?  And, what standard will you use to test the teachings of our denomination, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, to be certain you are not being led astray?

Jesus says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  “Test the spirits” against the Word of God.  Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone.  That is the only test of right and wrong in matters of faith.  My preaching and teaching; the teachings of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod; all other preachers and teachers and religious denominations and organizations; all must be judged by you according to only one standard: Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone.  Does it agree with the word of God? 

That is the question Martin Luther asked.  The Reformation began when Luther and others tested the teachings of the church of that day against the Word of God, and found many false teachings, and called the church to reform.

What does it mean to be a Lutheran?  Being a Lutheran means MUCH more than just going by the Lutheran name.  Being a Lutheran really means believing and living according to the three fundamental principles of the Reformation: Sola Gratia, Grace Alone: “For it is by GRACE you have been saved . . . not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Sola Fide, Faith Alone: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through FAITH—and this not from yourselves, IT is the gift of God.”  Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone: “If you continue in my word . . . you will know the truth.”

Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura.  That’s what the Reformation was all about.  That’s why the Lutheran faith was so important to our forebearers here at Block.  That’s why, even though struggling for their very survival, one of the first things they did when they settled here was to establish, in this rugged frontier, Trinity Lutheran Church and School.  Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone.  That’s what our Lutheran faith and Trinity, Block is STILL all about, for that’s what it means to be a Lutheran.

Amen.

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