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SERMON FOR NOVEMBER 1, 2009
C.O.D.E. LUTHERAN
SERMON THEME: Lutherans Are Christ-Centered
SERMON TEXT: Romans 3:19-24
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that
every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore
no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the
law we become conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which
the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in
Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Alone:
How many “how to” books do you think you would find at the Phoenix Public Library?
It’s a big library system - hundreds, thousands? I did a search this last week, and I came
up with 25,828 hits for “How to Books” in the Phoenix Public Library system. Titles
ranging from “How to Die in the Outdoors” to “How to Ruin Your Life”? That’s by Ben
Stein. There might be some sarcastic humor in that one. To, “How to Watch Football.”
Of interest to some might be “How to Draw.” There are hundreds of books - how to
draw this, how to draw that. Of interest to some might be the title “How to Talk So Men
Will Listen.” I don’t know how often that one is checked out! There is a book at the
library “How to Be Like Jesus.” Interestingly, you will not find a book title at the public
library entitled, “How to Be Saved” or “How to Get Right With God”.
I mean, what’s the point of being like Jesus, if you won’t be saved by him. It’s getting
right with God is what the Bible is all about. That is the core teaching of this book. How
fallen, sinful people can be saved. How fallen, sinful people can get right with God.
That’s the core teaching of the Christian Church. That is why the church exists, and that
is the teaching that was all but lost at the time of the Lutheran Reformation, in the early
1500s. It was, in fact, lost long before that. And this teaching is the teaching that God
restored to the church, through Luther and the Reformation. What’s the answer? How
do I get saved? How do I get right with God? Well, it has everything to do with Christ,
and nothing to do with us.
During the next four weeks, we’re taking back the name Lutheran. And we’re going to
explain in a little more detail, what Lutherans believe, and do, and why. Our theme is
C.O.D.E. Lutheran, because I like acronyms. I like “alphabet soup” and the first letter in
the word C.O.D.E. stands for, Christ-centered. Lutherans are Christ-centered.
Let’s deal with that name Lutheran. Why Lutheran? Is that what Luther wanted? Is that
what his followers wanted? Well, actually, no. It was the enemies of Luther, who
derisively called him and his followers, Lutherans. It was meant to be an insult, and that
insult is on our church sign, out by the road, nearly 500 years later. We’re still called
Lutherans. Now, I will be honest with you, it’s a mixed blessing. It seems that we
almost have to spend as much time explaining the differences among Lutherans, as we
do, what it is Lutherans believe and teach, based on the Scriptures. There are historical,
confessional Lutherans who proclaim the pure, true, inerrant, unchanging Word of God,
and there are Lutherans who do not. There are Lutherans who have strayed from
Scripture, who have gotten cozy with the culture and warmed up to the world, and are
quite a ways from where true Lutheran Christianity is. The “alphabet soup” that results
from this (WELS, LCMS, ELCA, ELS), and that goes on and on. It’s kind of
embarrassing.
Well, hear Luther’s thoughts. He did not want to start a church. He wanted to reform the
church from within, but they kicked him out, so he ended up forming a new church. He
said, “The first thing I ask is that people should not make use of my name, and should not
call themselves Lutherans but Christians. What is Luther? The teaching is not mine. Nor
was I crucified for anyone...How did I, poor stinking bag of maggots that I am, come to
the point where people call the children of Christ by my evil name?” It’s not about me, he
said. It’s about Christ!
Again, the name took hold and it’s still Lutheran 500 years later. But it’s not something
to apologize for. It’s not something to be embarrassed about, or to be ashamed of,
because Lutherans are Christ-centered. This is a simple truth. It’s a powerful truth, to
simply proclaim what the Scriptures do. How can I be saved? How do I get right with
God? In Christ alone!
Now, this simple saving, powerful message had been all but lost at Luther’s time.
Christianity, believe it or not, was complicated and cluttered in the 1500’s. It was
anything but Christ-centered. The church of his day proclaimed Christ, but the message
was Christ, plus something else. Christ, plus indulgences. Christ, plus works. Christ, plus
penance. Christ, plus piety. Christ, plus prayer. Christ, plus priest as mediator. But the
problem is if you add something to Christ, you add anything at all to Christ, what you end
up with, is nothing. If I had a screen, I would put it up - “CHRIST PLUS SOMETHING,
EQUALS NOTHING AT ALL!”
Christ plus something equals nothing at all, because, if the way to heaven is Christ, plus
something then, we’ve got the law in the equation of salvation. If my getting into heaven
depends on something that I do, even if it’s the slightest thing that I have to do then, I’m
lost. Paul says here in Romans, Chapter 3, “We know that whatever the law says, it says
to those who are under the law, (We are all under the law. We are all bound to have to
keep the commandments of God) so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole
world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his
sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” What
kind of law-keeping does God demand? What kind of commandment keeping, 80%,
what’s that, a B, in public school, B-, C? God says - perfection! God says ‘No mistakes,
ever! And there is a problem! The problem is not with the law. The problem is not with
the command to be perfect. The problem is us. God’s law is perfect. It’s God’s word.
It’s holy! The problem is us. Paul says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God.” All have sinned! All means all! It means rich and poor! It means young and old!
It means men and women and children! It means employed, unemployed, retirees, world
famous people, politicians, sports figures, entertainment figures, and those of us who are
not! All have sinned, everyone, no exceptions! No one will be declared righteous in
God’s sight, by observing the law, because – NO ONE CAN DO IT!!!
All have sinned, and then to say that we’ve fallen short, the way the NIV has it, is just so
nice. “Oh! You came in second place.” “Good job!” “You missed it by a tenth of a
second!” “Good job!” “Way to go!” Your horseshoe was closer to the stake than the
person you’re throwing with so…”Way to go!” “You’re closer!” “You fell short, but
you get a point for that!” Or, is it two? I can’t remember. Falling short of God’s glory,
we’re not even in the same universe. When it comes to aiming for God’s glory, we fall
so short. Not even close! God does not say, “Atta’ boy!” “Way to go!” “Way to go,
girl!” “You gave it your best shot!” “I really appreciate that!” “You get some credit!”
What he says here, “Here’s my law, and the law is a mirror.” It shows us very clearly
how and where we’ve fallen short.
Let’s take a peek at the last week, shall we? Think about your last week, and all of your
efforts, my efforts too, to be righteous. And I guess we have to call them failures, to be
righteous. Think of sins in thought, word and deed, of recent vintage, in the last week,
the last day, the last hour. What I’m going to do to demonstrate that or to help illustrate
that is, I’m going to pick up a book for every sin that gets mentioned. Stay with me,
there’s a point, and we’ll get to it pretty quickly!
(Note: Pastor has a stack of books on a chair in front of the congregation.)
But now, think about the last week in your life. Have you hurt family members and
friends, with words and actions in the last week? Wow! We can’t remember all the
times that we’ve done that, so I’m just going to take a stack of books here, and have that
represent the many, many times that we have sinned in that way. Now hold on to that!
During the last week have you lied to anyone? Have you, maybe, you didn’t really tell a
lie, but you were less than truthful? That would go on the pile. Have you been
disrespectful toward anyone this week? Have you refused to forgive anyone? Have you
indulged in gossip? Giving it? How about receiving it? Have you gotten into an
argument with anyone this week? Have you gotten impatient with anyone this week?
Have you gotten angry with anyone this week? Now, how long do you think I can hold
this little stack of books? What, a dozen sins? I need to work out? That’s not the point!
The point is…No one can carry the burden of sin. It crushes us. It dooms us. It damns
us. So, if we’re looking for righteousness from us, “Here you go God!” “Here are my
filthy rags of righteousness!” It’s not happening. The more we try to be right with God,
the more we give him our efforts, the further we are lost.
Luther knew that. He knew the feeling. He lived it the first half of his life. He
anguished over the fact that he could not do enough to be right with God. He could never
have a good conscience, knowing that he had done enough to be right with God. The
turning point was, when he realized that he couldn’t do anything to be right with God,
because sin and guilt, stood in the way, an impenetrable, immovable, un-climbable
barrier. But then, Luther discovered this, “But now a righteousness from God, apart
from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” The
righteousness that saves does not come from us. It is not found, in the world. It comes
from God. It’s a gift from God. It is apart from us, and God gives it to us as a gift,
through faith.
It’s Jesus righteous, perfect, sinless life, a life that ended in death, a death that was the
perfect, bloody, innocent sacrifice on Calvary’s cross, that incredibly paid the high, high
price, of all of our unrighteousness. And that this is all God’s doing, is highlighted by
these words, “There is no difference because all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God.” And then Paul goes on, “And all are justified freely by his grace, through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” It’s all about Christ, His righteousness, His
sacrifice, His resurrection.
Luther wrote, “God would tie and attach us to this one person, Christ, apart from this
person, born of Mary, and having real flesh and blood. We’re neither to seek, nor to find
God, for we are to grasp and find God only through faith in the flesh and blood of
Christ.” Well, how do we grasp God? How do we become part of his family? That
forgiveness and life that Christ won for all, how does that reach the individual? How
does it come to you and me? It comes through the Gospel, the good news about Jesus.
And the spirit uses that, works in our hearts, to create faith. Law and Gospel are at work.
We see the law and we see this really ugly reflection in the mirror of the law, despairing,
making us despair of our righteousness. God is angry about that, and he is righteous to be
angry about that. And we despair of our own works, and then there is the Gospel, there is
good news about Jesus having done it for us. We repent, and by God’s grace believe.
To say that Lutherans are Christ-centered is also to say that Lutherans are very serious
about the Word and the Sacraments, which are the means of grace, the means by which
God gives us his grace. We have the Word of God. Every time we hear it, every time we
read it, we see Christ. Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing the message and the
message is heard through the Word of Christ.” Every time we see a baptism, every time
we remember our own baptism, Christ is all over that. Christ washing our sins away with
his washing of water through the Word, connecting us back to his blood, taking our sins
away, connecting us to the rising up of the resurrection, and his robe of righteousness
given us to wear as a gift. Every time we receive the Lord’s Supper, we see, and taste,
and touch Christ, and his forgiveness, in a very personal way. It’s all about Christ!
If the way to heaven, is, Christ, plus something, it’s worst than the 1-17 and the 101
interchange, this weekend. Because you can’t get through there, with all the
construction. You can find another way to get around the roadwork, but if getting to
heaven is Christ, plus something, there is no way, heaven is closed. But if the way to
heaven is, Christ alone, only Christ crucified, and arisen again, it is wide open.
By God’s grace, Luther relied on God’s power and his word, took on the church of his
day, and restored a Christ-centered focus. Here’s something else he wrote. “There are
some ministers who imagine that they cannot be preachers unless they teach more than
Christ and above the level of our preaching. These are the ambitious eccentrics, who
forsake our simplicity and rush on with their peculiar wisdom, so that people cast
admiring glances at them and exclaim: What a preacher! They should be sent to Athens,
where people desired to hear something new every day. They seek their own honor, not
Christ’s; therefore they will also end in shame. Beware of them and stay with Paul, who
desired to know nothing save Christ and him crucified.”
And that’s fantastic advice. Stay with Paul in Romans, 3, and, 1st Corinthians 1, “Christ
and Him crucified.” And stay with Luther, who finally, despaired of his own
righteousness, and found everything he needed, righteousness, forgiveness, life and peace
in Christ alone. Amen.
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand
Phoenix, Arizona