Reformation Day – October 27th, 2024
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Romans 3:19–28
“Peace for the Conscience”
Theme: God gives us peace of conscience in this world through the Word and the Gospel.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The election is just nine days away. I know because it comes up in many of the conversations that I have with people. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that. I think it’s actually good that we have political discussions. There’s a saying that you should never discuss religion or politics in polite society. I completely disagree. Alongside the topics of family and community, religion and politics are probably the things that impact us the most. We should talk about them respectfully. Politics—both national and local—impact our life on this earth. Religion deals with the spiritual world and the life to come. All of these interact—religion informs family informs politics and so forth. The reason I bring up politics though is not because I’m going to tell you how to vote or anything like that. I see great and abiding fear in our nation and perhaps among you about the result of this presidential election. People do not merely have disagreements with “the other side’s” nominee, regardless of whatever side you’re on. No, people fear for the future of what that nominee—whoever he or she may be—might bring to our nation and the world.
Fear of the future is certainly not new. I think it’s fair to say that most people throughout history have feared the future in one way or another. We can easily understand fear of earthly events—of regime change, war, robbers, wild animals, natural disasters and so forth. They have immediate effects and can last into the future. The survivors of Helene and Milton will be cleaning up and rebuilding for months, if not years. Likewise, we know that this next election does not only affect the next four years but may have more lasting consequences. But one thing that Americans do not tend to be as afraid of as those in the past is our eternal destiny.
You think that the results of this election could be terrifying? At least they are only limited to this world and time. Your eternal destiny is, well, eternal. What is man’s natural response to this prospect? It is to bargain with God or the gods in a polytheistic religion to see what you need to do to get into the afterlife. They ask the question, What do I need to do to get to heaven? I guarantee you this is how most people think. I’ve done some door-to-door mission work. Our first two questions are these: where do you believe you will go when you die? and why? Here’s a hint: almost everyone believes they’re going to heaven, but they also believe that they’ll get there because they’ve generally been good.
This idea is as true now as it was 500 years ago when Martin Luther broke on the scene. Except it wasn’t just the every-day people who believed it, but it was what the church of his day taught: that you were saved by faith and good works, or as they say it, “faith formed by charity.” The Catholic church still teaches this today.
Furthermore, if you wanted any assurance of skipping purgatory, you could either go on a Crusade or buy an indulgence for yourself or someone else. This caused great burdens of fear and despair for people. It was also a great money-maker for the church. Nothing opens the wallets like fear.
What happened 507 years ago was that Martin Luther disagreed with this whole system of indulgences, and he wanted a discussion about it. He nailed his “95 Theses” to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31st, knowing that people would see it as they came to church the next day for All Saints’ Day. He did not know it, but that would be the tipping point for all that would come. He was not only disagreeing with some of the practices of the church, but with an underlying theology that had gone awry. Luther would come before Cardinal Cajetan and eventually the Holy Roman Emperor, before whom he would defend his writings on the basis of Holy Scripture, saying “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me.”
Luther’s teaching came as a result of reading Romans and Galatians. The first thing to do is admit what you are afraid of: that you cannot be saved by your good works or who you are. Romans 3 says it this way: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (20). In fact, when you hear God’s law, your mouth is “stopped.” Paul emphasizes this fact even more: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (23).
All of us have a sinful human nature that we have inherited from Adam and Eve. It leads to separation from God—and there is no distinction that we can make between some people and others. All—even us—have sinned. Paul puts it this way in Ephesians: “you were dead in the trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1).
How then are we saved? We are “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (24–25). This is the best news for our fearful hearts. Justification and salvation are given as a gift. We don’t need to earn it. Indeed, we cannot. God has redeemed us in Christ. He has bought us back from sin by his blood. We receive all this by faith. God is both just in himself and also the justifier of you “who has faith in Jesus” (26). This is the way Paul puts it in Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8–9).
What this means for us is that we need not fear the future. This is certainly true when we think about our eternal destiny. Why can we be certain that we will go to heaven when we die? It is not because of anything in us, but because Jesus died and rose for us. Why can approach our death with hope? Because it is only a sleep from which we will rise again.
I encourage you to have this hope also for your future as you look at the pending election. You are in God’s gracious hands, even now. He will continue to provide for you in good times and in bad. Do the good works that God has set in your life to do, not because you will earn salvation by them, but because your neighbor needs your good works.
Finally, engage in politics according to your vocation. Yes, vote. But more importantly, talk with others about what you believe will lead to human flourishing. At the same time, Psalm 146 reminds us: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish” (3–4).
Our hope is not in man—neither in the next president of our nation nor in ourselves. Neither can save us. Neither can bring the peace that passes understanding. Only God can do that. Only God has done that. So “do not fear though the earth gives way” (Ps 46:2) and “the other candidate” is elected. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (7, 11). To him we run in times of trouble. He says to you, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (10).
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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