Romans 3:19-28 Reformation 15 B
St. Peter’s
Lord of light - shine upon us. God of love - fill our hearts with your wisdom. Holy Spirit bring yourself closer to us in my words and how we hear them, in our thoughts and how
we think them. Use this time - and use us to accomplish your good will. Amen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Today, we celebrate a history-changing event that occurred 498 years ago. God raised
up a priest by the name of Martin Luther, who challenged the Roman Church to recover
beliefs and teachings he felt it had neglected, or altered beyond recognition, done so for
political and financial control, and not for the sake of the Gospel. He believed the
Church needed to reform…to get back on track…to recover what it had lost.
One of the most important and fundamental teachings…maybe even THE most
important teaching, that came out of Luther's theology, was the doctrine of justification
by faith through grace, apart from works.
I am personally thankful for that insight, that discovery, that teaching. It is thoroughly
Biblical, made evident in St. Paul’s writings, writings that deeply influenced and clearly
guided Luther. I embrace it with all my heart. It’s the reason I became a Lutheran, and
then a Lutheran pastor.
Our understanding of the gift of life and salvation, the gift of forgiveness, and the
promise of eternal life must never be forgotten, lost, or modified. May we be reminded
daily that it is offered for our acceptance, or rejection, but it is ALWAYS offered.
Our Epistle lesson from St. Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome is perhaps the most
appropriate reading for this special day of commemoration of our Lutheran heritage,
since this is the letter that most inspired Luther’s actions and theology.
It seems that, before his conversion, St. Paul had fought passionately to be perfect,
according to the Law, but he found no peace in the Law, and now we hear him saying,
"Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his
grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
St. Paul had finally found his peace, and he realized that it came as a gift of the Holy
Spirit, and not because of something he himself had done.
Many people…many Lutherans…continue to be confused about "grace and works."
Someone once asked me, "Are we saved by grace, by works, or by both?” In
Ephesians we read, “You are saved by grace through trusting him.” And then in
Philippians we read, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Well,
pastor, which is it?"
First of all, there is no such thing as "self-salvation." I believe I am saved…brought into
life, present and eternal…by God's mercy alone. This is affirmed in my baptism into
Christ.
This is a deeply healing experience when it is genuinely embraced. And it’s not the
end, but actually the beginning, of a life-long process of understanding and responding
to our salvation. The grace of God…the goodness of God in Christ…lifts us from lostness, forgives us, and puts us on course.
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Our God-intended purpose in life is to be a whole person…an effective person in
relation with God and one another…to experience a quieting of inner conflicts.
This, then can be seen in being a good husband, a good wife, a good parent, a good
worker, a good boss, a good neighbor, as good a student as we are gifted to be. Our
thoughts and actions are brought into God-focus by faith.
My own experience of coming to better understand this gift of grace is revealing,
although it comes differently to different people.
First, I was given the grace of knowledge. What I mean by that is that I began to see
myself as I really was.
Second, I was given the grace to struggle. I yearned, I wrestled, and I prayed. I moved
forward, I fell back. It took a while, but I finally began to understand that God really
wasn’t playing games with me. So many of us think that’s what’s going on in our lives. I
hear that all the time.
In my case, God was letting me be reshaped, reoriented. There’s a quote that goes,
"The light and the darkness, how they fought over my soul." Any of you ever
experience that feeling in your efforts to understand where you are with God? "The light
and the darkness, how they fought over my soul."
Third, I was given the grace of peace. I began to feel a sense of being unburdened. I
began to feel God’s forgiveness, that I was accepted by God.
Fourth, I was given the grace of a changed nature. I realized that I was a new
being…still flawed…still broken…still a sinner…but somehow assured that, because of
my faith, everything was somehow going to be ok.
You see, grace comes to all of us, even when we’re unworthy (remember the phrase:
while we were yet sinners?).
And “the working out of our own salvation" part of the original question comes as a
result of grace, not as the cause of grace.
In the experience of God's grace, we begin to recognize and become empowered for
the life for which God has designed us.
What Dietrich Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace" is expecting God to do it all for us, with
no response on our part. That doesn’t seem to be a part of God’s plan.
On the other hand, "costly grace," revealed in Christ's death for our sake, demands a
love response on your part…my part…in the form of "working out our salvation" in our
new nature made possible by grace.
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God loves us all. Some he loves with sadness, because they reject God’s saving
grace…which we can do. Some he loves with gladness, because they are responding
to grace in their new and developing Christ-centered lifestyle.
That new lifestyle is made possible by our recognition and acceptance of God’s
presence in our lives…a presence that is always there…always ready to be recognized
as a real and saving presence.
But let’s also keep in mind what theologian Hans Kung has put forth…that the notion of
justification by faith through grace alone was never meant to exclude good works.
While we are not saved by good works, but by faith, the works of love, our service, our
participation in the kingdom, our discipleship, our stewardship, naturally follow, naturally
come out of, our experience of grace. Jesus said, "Not those that say Lord, Lord, but
those that do the will of my Father in Heaven."
Kung reminds us of St Paul's triumphant declaration of the victory of grace throughout
the experiences of a difficult life, who writes:
“Harassed on all sides, but not crushed; plagued in doubt, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; as dying, but see we live;
as punished, but not put to death; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing,
and yet possessing everything.”
As we do our works, God builds a new life within us. God works in us "to will and to do."
In other words, to want to do good works, and then to do them.
I think there’s something radically out of balance with a Christianity that does not result
in good works, in a life well lived in service to others and the cause of the Gospel, as we
are gifted and enabled.
God is not in debt to me because of my good works. I am in debt to God because God
has forgiven me, enabled me, and made me a new person, and God does that every
day. Because of my debt to God's love, and enabled by God's love, I now produce
good works.
God is seeking to save us from what I call “unlife.” The big question is, are we
accepting of this saving grace?
There’s a story of a young physician who said, "Several years ago, I felt that I wanted to
be a Christian. I prayed and told Jesus that I needed him and he could have my life, but
with this and this and this reservation. Nothing happened. I was so miserable that I
went back to Jesus, and I said, 'Ok, Lord, you can have all of me – except for one thing.
I won't preach on the street.'
Again, nothing happened. In despair, I went back a final time and said, ‘All right, Jesus,
I can't live without you. I hold nothing back. I'll even preach on the street.’”
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I sensed new life surging into me. By grace, I became more than a technician in
medical skills. Now, I could minister healing to the whole person. It was a new life, a
new practice of medicine. And you know, that has been six years ago - and Jesus
hasn't asked me to preach on the street yet."
God doesn't call us to the thing we are not fitted to do, but to the area of service where
we can do the greatest good. I’m living proof of that. This is not what I wanted to do,
but here I stand. God knows the best use of our lives, and God wants to employ us
there.
Faith, risk, and commitment, open the doors to a clearer understanding of God. Keep
that in mind as you consider how you can practice your faith in this congregation…as
you are “working out your own salvation.” In other words, as you apply the grace God
gives you to living out your faith.
We move, day by day, toward fulfillment…toward completion. The possibility of this
fulfillment is the gift of grace. "Working it out" is our response. God inspires both the will
and the deed. And this grace is not to be received selfishly.
Listen again to St. Paul in his own grasp of the richness of grace: "Show
yourselves...faultless children of God in a warped and crooked generation, in which you
shine like stars in a dark world."
We want all that God can give us. We, then, want to share what God gives us with a
hungry, broken world. That’s how we offer hope to others. That’s how we “work out our
salvation.”
This sharing experience is expressed unforgettably by Christian author and speaker,
Nell Mohney, the wife of a pastor in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She tells the story of
flying to Jackson, Tennessee, to give a lecture at a local college. She thought it was
odd that no one was at the airport to meet her.
Then she discovered that she wasn’t in Jackson, Tennessee after all. She was in
Jackson, Mississippi. The airline had made the mistake, and five other people were
with her in the same situation.
Delta provided a small plane and flew them to Jackson, Tennessee. It was a terribly hot
day. The flight was bumpy. Sweat was pouring down everybody's faces.
Nell couldn’t help noticing that the young woman who shared the seat with her was
crying and looked like she had a terrible problem. Nell is a very effective and
experienced counselor, but at that moment, she was tired, sick, and frustrated. She
turned to the window and whispered, "No, Lord, I'm sick. I just can't get involved." But
she could find no peace, so she whispered again: "Ok, Lord, I'll talk to her."
She turned and said to the woman: "Is there something wrong? Can I help?"
The woman then poured out a pathetic and sordid story. Everything was wrong. She
ended her story by saying, "There’s simply no hope." Nell began to offer
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encouragement, including words about God’s love and offer of forgiveness, no matter
the circumstances.
Through the grace of God extended by a grace-filled person, Nell was able to help, and
everyone could tell that something had changed in the young woman.
As they were getting ready to leave the hot, stuffy little plane, the woman turned to Nell
and said, "I want to show you something." She opened her pocketbook and showed
Nell a bottle of pills and a suicide note, and said, "I was going to a motel and kill myself.
Jackson was the only place where they would know what to do with my body."
What if Nell had missed it? But Nell Mohney has the quality of Christian grace that
doesn't miss it. All of us can say with St. Paul, "I have not yet reached the goal, but I
press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me." And again, "Forgetting
what is behind, and reaching out for that which lies ahead…."
Jesus saw the need everywhere around him. He never missed it. He calls on us to see
the need around us, and do something about it.
It is the same grace that Nell Mohney receives from Christ that can open our eyes and
put us to work in love and caring. We, too, can become renewed every day in his spirit.
By grace, we come to know his living presence as he lives and loves and ministers
through us.
We are saved by faith through grace. And for the rest of our lives, we then “work out
our own salvation,” as God graces us to work…not to gain our salvation, but, rather,
because if it. Amen
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