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“Here We Stand” Matthew 10:17-39 *Click for Audio* Pastor Kevin Vogts Trinity Lutheran Church Paola, Kansas April 18, 2021—500th Anniversary of Martin Luther’s “Here I Stand” Declaration In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, it seems that Lutherans sure do like to party! Because, it’s time today for ANOTHER Lutheran 500th anniversary celebration! This cycle of celebrations actually started way back in 1983, with the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great reformer, Martin Luther. After growing up to become a monk, priest, and theology professor, Luther was two weeks shy of his 34th birthday when he famously nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31st, 1517. That date is usually counted as the beginning of the Reformation, and three years ago Lutherans and other Protestants all around the world celebrated that 500th anniversary with great fanfare. You may recall that our own congregation, which is in fact the “Mother Church” of ALL the Lutheran congregations in the Kansas City area, sponsored a wonderful city-wide Reformation Festival at the Kaufmann Center downtown. But, in some ways, TODAY could be actually be considered the 500th anniversary of the decisive event that resulted in the formation of the Lutheran and other Protestant churches. For, it was 500 years ago today, on April 18th, 1521, that Martin Luther stood at the Diet of Worms before the emperor and princes of the Holy Roman Empire, bravely defied all the demands and threats of both church and state, and boldly proclaimed: “My conscience is bound by the Word of God. I cannot, I shall not, I will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God!” Because they didn’t have our modern separation of church and state, the church in those days was really a massive government bureaucracy. As with all bureaucracies, after Luther posted his 95 Theses, things moved very slowly, and it took a few years for things to come to a head. Luther sent copies of the 95 Theses to the German archbishops, and eventually a copy reached Rome. Initial charges of heresy were lodged against Luther, and about a year after posting the 95 Theses he met first with a cardinal, then the papal ambassador, and he publically debated the issues with another theologian. Finally, in the summer of 1520, because Luther still stubbornly refused to give in, two-and-a-half years after posting the 95 Theses he was formally excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, and condemned to burned at the stake as a heretic. However, because Luther was so beloved by the common people, and protected by his faithful prince, Elector Frederick the Wise, instead of being thrown into the fire it was Luther himself who did the burning, defiantly throwing his copy of the excommunication order onto a bonfire. All this set the stage for the event that we are commemorating today, the Diet of Worms in 1521. People are often confused by that phrase, “Diet of Worms.” If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’ll know there’s a fictional Klingon dish of worms eaten alive called “gagh.” But, Martin Luther didn’t EAT a diet of worms, he ATTENDED the Diet of Worms. You see, “diet” is also a Latin word meaning a legislative assembly. Still to this day in Japan, their legislature is not called parliament or congress, but the imperial “diet.” In 1521, such an assembly of the emperor and princes of the Holy Roman Empire was called to deal with Martin Luther. And because it was held in the German city of Worms, it became known to history as the “Diet of Worms.” Martin Luther himself was called to appear in person before the diet. That right there was extraordinary. For, he was not from a noble family, but the son of a miner. As Luther himself said, “I am a peasant’s son, my father, grandfather, all my ancestors, were nothing more than peasants.” For a man of such humble origins to be appearing as the star witness, before the emperor and assembled princes of the Holy Roman Empire, at an imperial diet called especially to deal with him, was totally unprecedented, nothing like it had ever happened before. It shows the power of Luther’s teaching, and the impact that teaching already had, in just a few short years, on the hearts of millions. The situation is very much like our Lord Jesus himself faced, with the religious and civil authorities in his day, as Matthew reports: “They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd, because the people held that he was a prophet.” In the same way, the early Lutherans were so convinced that Martin Luther was a prophet that they actually identified the angel in today’s reading from Revelation as a prophecy about Luther himself: “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the eternal Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth.” To the people of Luther’s day, it seemed that’s exactly what he was doing, ending the long, Dark Ages with the light of the Gospel. The Diet of Worms was the first imperial diet presided over by the new emperor, Charles V. He had a reputation for being a Renaissance man, intelligent, progressive, well-educated, and fair. Luther had many supporters among the princes in the diet, especially his own prince, the powerful and influential Elector Frederick the Wise. Luther and these supporters in the diet genuinely hoped that he would receive a fair hearing, that he could explain his teachings directly to Charles V, and perhaps a compromise could be reached. But, they were all surprised when instead right out of the box an uncompromising demand was made, that Luther immediately, without any discussion, retract all his writings and recant his teachings. Luther was unprepared for that approach, and he asked for an adjournment to the next day, for time to consider his response. During the night he wrestled with his conscience and came to the conclusion that the only options were either to cowardly submit to their demands, or to remain faithful to the Gospel and the Word of God—and manfully face the possible, deadly consequences. For, always in the back of everyone’s mind was what had happened to John Hus, an early reformer very much like Martin Luther, with many of the same teachings. A century before, Hus had been burned at the stake as a heretic for refusing to recant. The name “Hus” means “goose,” and the burning of John Hus at the stake is the origin of the phrase, “Your goose is cooked,” meaning something has come to a terrible, tragic end. Because, those who hoped for reformation in the church thought those hopes were dashed forever with the burning of John Hus. But, the last thing Hus said before being burned at the stake was a riddle, that 100 years later many interpreted as another prophecy about the rise of Martin Luther. “Today you cook a goose,” Hus said to those burning him alive. “But in more than a hundred years a swan will arise singing a song that will not be silenced.” Luther went back to the diet the next morning knowing full well that if he refused to recant he could suffer the same terrible fate as Hus. Once again the blunt demand was made: Do you retract your writings and recant your teachings? Luther tried to start a theological debate on the issues, but the imperial representative interrogating him would have none of it. Like an attorney in a courtroom drama demanding “just a yes or no answer,” Luther was ordered to answer: “Do you, or do you not, recant?” He may have been only a peasant’s son, but the answer Martin Luther gave to that demand 500 years ago today had a profound impact on the whole history of the world. And his words that day had a life-changing, personal impact for many of US, radically altering our own family histories, changing the direction OUR lives would take. Because, many of us are descendants of Lutheran pioneers—like my own great-great-grandparents, Johann and Katerina Windler, who settled here at Block in 1865—faithful families who came to the New World because here they found freedom to practice their Old Lutheran faith. Without Luther’s bold answer that day, many of our ancestors never would have left the Old World for the New. But, as Luther stood before the emperor that day, there was so much more at stake than world history, or politics, or even our personal genealogies. For, during the long, Dark Ages, the church had forgotten the whole reason for the church and our Christian faith, the glorious Gospel, the Good News of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, based on the teachings of Scripture alone. That’s what YOUR Christian faith is all about: “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 did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” God’s Son, Jesus Christ, bore all your sins in his body on the cross, by his death earning you full forgiveness, by his resurrection giving you the gift of eternal life. As Paul says in today’s Epistle Reading: “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.” Luther was indeed like the angel in today’s reading from Revelation, preaching to the world this eternal Gospel, that had largely been forgotten. But, IF Luther had recanted, Christendom would have once again forgotten that Good News, and been plunged back into another Dark Age of spiritual ignorance. We are sitting here today, 500 years later, on the other side of the world, in Trinity LUTHERAN Church, because Luther WAS the swan that would not be silenced: “My conscience is bound by the Word of God. I cannot, I shall not, I will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God!” The emperor had promised Luther safe passage to and from the Diet of Worms. But, after Luther departed, the emperor issued an edict declaring him a “notorious heretic” and enemy of the state, who was to be captured and presumably burned at the stake. Thankfully, Luther’s friends among the princes were able to protect him, hiding him for nearly a year at Wartburg Castle. Five hundred years later, it sometimes seems that another Dark Age, of religious intolerance and persecution of faithful Christians, is looming today. We hope and pray that doesn’t happen in our nation, to which many of our ancestors immigrated precisely because they were beckoned here by the bright beacon of religious freedom. But, such intolerance and persecution of faithful Christians IS already happening in other countries, even some historically Christian countries. And Jesus warns in today’s Gospel Reading: “On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Jesus also declares, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” We hope and pray that WE are NEVER put in the position of having to choose between our family and our faith. But, it may happen, for Jesus warns that the Gospel will cause divisions, and on account of faithfulness to the Gospel sometimes, “a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Just as Martin Luther faced opposition for proclaiming the truth of God’s word from WITHIN the church of his day, Jesus warns, “Be on your guard against men, for they will arrest you and take you to court and flog you in their synagogues.” We hope and pray that doesn’t happen in our own church. But, sadly, many once solid Christian denominations and congregations have abandoned the true teachings of the Bible, on a whole range of issues, especially Christian morality. We must be always on guard against the same thing happening among us, to our congregation and denomination. For, we are called upon by our Lord to remain firmly committed to him and his Word: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven. . . but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Just as Martin Luther stood firm 500 years ago today at the Diet of Worms, stand with Luther. Stand with Luther, firmly on the true teachings of God’s word; stand with Luther, on the Reformation principles of sola gratia, sole fide, sola scriptura, grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone; stand with Luther on the Gospel, the Good News of your salvation. “My conscience is bound by the Word of God. I cannot, I shall not, I will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God!” Amen. Return to Top \| Return to Sermons \| Home \| Email Church Office

“Here We Stand”
Matthew 10:17-39

Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
April 18, 2021—500th Anniversary of Martin Luther’s “Here I Stand” Declaration

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Well, it seems that Lutherans sure do like to party! Because, it’s time today for ANOTHER Lutheran 500th anniversary celebration!

This cycle of celebrations actually started way back in 1983, with the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great reformer, Martin Luther. After growing up to become a monk, priest, and theology professor, Luther was two weeks shy of his 34th birthday when he famously nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31st, 1517.

That date is usually counted as the beginning of the Reformation, and three years ago Lutherans and other Protestants all around the world celebrated that 500th anniversary with great fanfare. You may recall that our own congregation, which is in fact the “Mother Church” of ALL the Lutheran congregations in the Kansas City area, sponsored a wonderful city-wide Reformation Festival at the Kaufmann Center downtown.

But, in some ways, TODAY could be actually be considered the 500th anniversary of the decisive event that resulted in the formation of the Lutheran and other Protestant churches. For, it was 500 years ago today, on April 18th, 1521, that Martin Luther stood at the Diet of Worms before the emperor and princes of the Holy Roman Empire, bravely defied all the demands and threats of both church and state, and boldly proclaimed: “My conscience is bound by the Word of God. I cannot, I shall not, I will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God!”

Because they didn’t have our modern separation of church and state, the church in those days was really a massive government bureaucracy. As with all bureaucracies, after Luther posted his 95 Theses, things moved very slowly, and it took a few years for things to come to a head.

Luther sent copies of the 95 Theses to the German archbishops, and eventually a copy reached Rome. Initial charges of heresy were lodged against Luther, and about a year after posting the 95 Theses he met first with a cardinal, then the papal ambassador, and he publically debated the issues with another theologian.

Finally, in the summer of 1520, because Luther still stubbornly refused to give in, two-and-a-half years after posting the 95 Theses he was formally excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, and condemned to burned at the stake as a heretic. However, because Luther was so beloved by the common people, and protected by his faithful prince, Elector Frederick the Wise, instead of being thrown into the fire it was Luther himself who did the burning, defiantly throwing his copy of the excommunication order onto a bonfire.

All this set the stage for the event that we are commemorating today, the Diet of Worms in 1521. People are often confused by that phrase, “Diet of Worms.” If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’ll know there’s a fictional Klingon dish of worms eaten alive called “gagh.” But, Martin Luther didn’t EAT a diet of worms, he ATTENDED the Diet of Worms. You see, “diet” is also a Latin word meaning a legislative assembly. Still to this day in Japan, their legislature is not called parliament or congress, but the imperial “diet.”

In 1521, such an assembly of the emperor and princes of the Holy Roman Empire was called to deal with Martin Luther. And because it was held in the German city of Worms, it became known to history as the “Diet of Worms.”

Martin Luther himself was called to appear in person before the diet. That right there was extraordinary. For, he was not from a noble family, but the son of a miner. As Luther himself said, “I am a peasant’s son, my father, grandfather, all my ancestors, were nothing more than peasants.” For a man of such humble origins to be appearing as the star witness, before the emperor and assembled princes of the Holy Roman Empire, at an imperial diet called especially to deal with him, was totally unprecedented, nothing like it had ever happened before.

It shows the power of Luther’s teaching, and the impact that teaching already had, in just a few short years, on the hearts of millions. The situation is very much like our Lord Jesus himself faced, with the religious and civil authorities in his day, as Matthew reports: “They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd, because the people held that he was a prophet.”

In the same way, the early Lutherans were so convinced that Martin Luther was a prophet that they actually identified the angel in today’s reading from Revelation as a prophecy about Luther himself: “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the eternal Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth.” To the people of Luther’s day, it seemed that’s exactly what he was doing, ending the long, Dark Ages with the light of the Gospel.

The Diet of Worms was the first imperial diet presided over by the new emperor, Charles V. He had a reputation for being a Renaissance man, intelligent, progressive, well-educated, and fair. Luther had many supporters among the princes in the diet, especially his own prince, the powerful and influential Elector Frederick the Wise. Luther and these supporters in the diet genuinely hoped that he would receive a fair hearing, that he could explain his teachings directly to Charles V, and perhaps a compromise could be reached.

But, they were all surprised when instead right out of the box an uncompromising demand was made, that Luther immediately, without any discussion, retract all his writings and recant his teachings. Luther was unprepared for that approach, and he asked for an adjournment to the next day, for time to consider his response. During the night he wrestled with his conscience and came to the conclusion that the only options were either to cowardly submit to their demands, or to remain faithful to the Gospel and the Word of God—and manfully face the possible, deadly consequences.

For, always in the back of everyone’s mind was what had happened to John Hus, an early reformer very much like Martin Luther, with many of the same teachings. A century before, Hus had been burned at the stake as a heretic for refusing to recant.

The name “Hus” means “goose,” and the burning of John Hus at the stake is the origin of the phrase, “Your goose is cooked,” meaning something has come to a terrible, tragic end. Because, those who hoped for reformation in the church thought those hopes were dashed forever with the burning of John Hus.

But, the last thing Hus said before being burned at the stake was a riddle, that 100 years later many interpreted as another prophecy about the rise of Martin Luther. “Today you cook a goose,” Hus said to those burning him alive. “But in more than a hundred years a swan will arise singing a song that will not be silenced.”

Luther went back to the diet the next morning knowing full well that if he refused to recant he could suffer the same terrible fate as Hus. Once again the blunt demand was made: Do you retract your writings and recant your teachings? Luther tried to start a theological debate on the issues, but the imperial representative interrogating him would have none of it. Like an attorney in a courtroom drama demanding “just a yes or no answer,” Luther was ordered to answer: “Do you, or do you not, recant?”

He may have been only a peasant’s son, but the answer Martin Luther gave to that demand 500 years ago today had a profound impact on the whole history of the world. And his words that day had a life-changing, personal impact for many of US, radically altering our own family histories, changing the direction OUR lives would take. Because, many of us are descendants of Lutheran pioneers—like my own great-great-grandparents, Johann and Katerina Windler, who settled here at Block in 1865—faithful families who came to the New World because here they found freedom to practice their Old Lutheran faith. Without Luther’s bold answer that day, many of our ancestors never would have left the Old World for the New.

But, as Luther stood before the emperor that day, there was so much more at stake than world history, or politics, or even our personal genealogies. For, during the long, Dark Ages, the church had forgotten the whole reason for the church and our Christian faith, the glorious Gospel, the Good News of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, based on the teachings of Scripture alone.

That’s what YOUR Christian faith is all about: “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 did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.”

God’s Son, Jesus Christ, bore all your sins in his body on the cross, by his death earning you full forgiveness, by his resurrection giving you the gift of eternal life. As Paul says in today’s Epistle Reading: “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.”

Luther was indeed like the angel in today’s reading from Revelation, preaching to the world this eternal Gospel, that had largely been forgotten. But, IF Luther had recanted, Christendom would have once again forgotten that Good News, and been plunged back into another Dark Age of spiritual ignorance. We are sitting here today, 500 years later, on the other side of the world, in Trinity LUTHERAN Church, because Luther WAS the swan that would not be silenced: “My conscience is bound by the Word of God. I cannot, I shall not, I will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God!”

The emperor had promised Luther safe passage to and from the Diet of Worms. But, after Luther departed, the emperor issued an edict declaring him a “notorious heretic” and enemy of the state, who was to be captured and presumably burned at the stake. Thankfully, Luther’s friends among the princes were able to protect him, hiding him for nearly a year at Wartburg Castle.

Five hundred years later, it sometimes seems that another Dark Age, of religious intolerance and persecution of faithful Christians, is looming today. We hope and pray that doesn’t happen in our nation, to which many of our ancestors immigrated precisely because they were beckoned here by the bright beacon of religious freedom. But, such intolerance and persecution of faithful Christians IS already happening in other countries, even some historically Christian countries. And Jesus warns in today’s Gospel Reading: “On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Jesus also declares, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” We hope and pray that WE are NEVER put in the position of having to choose between our family and our faith. But, it may happen, for Jesus warns that the Gospel will cause divisions, and on account of faithfulness to the Gospel sometimes, “a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”

Just as Martin Luther faced opposition for proclaiming the truth of God’s word from WITHIN the church of his day, Jesus warns, “Be on your guard against men, for they will arrest you and take you to court and flog you in their synagogues.” We hope and pray that doesn’t happen in our own church. But, sadly, many once solid Christian denominations and congregations have abandoned the true teachings of the Bible, on a whole range of issues, especially Christian morality. We must be always on guard against the same thing happening among us, to our congregation and denomination. For, we are called upon by our Lord to remain firmly committed to him and his Word: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven. . . but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

Just as Martin Luther stood firm 500 years ago today at the Diet of Worms, stand with Luther. Stand with Luther, firmly on the true teachings of God’s word; stand with Luther, on the Reformation principles of sola gratia, sole fide, sola scriptura, grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone; stand with Luther on the Gospel, the Good News of your salvation.

“My conscience is bound by the Word of God. I cannot, I shall not, I will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God!”

Amen.

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