NOT BY WORKS, BUT BY FAITH
Rev. Bernt P. Tweit
Old Testament Lesson;
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Gospel Lesson;
John 8:31-36
Sermon Text;
Romans 4:1-8
Have you ever purchased something that needed to be put together, some assembly was required? The instructions were correct, but you received the wrong parts, or those parts were mislabeled.
A couple of years ago, my wife Katie and I, bought a garage door. We took the old garage door down. (It was the kind that had the springs running along the track. Those springs had become weak, and we needed a new door.) The new door panels were put in place. (New doors, nowadays, have a torsion bar that goes above the garage door.) We followed the directions. We followed the instructions. When it came to the point of tightening the spring on the garage door, I took out my cordless drill and started winding the torsion bar the number of times that the directions required. Before I got to the number that was required, all of a sudden, the torsion bar lost its tension and unraveled! It was pretty scary. It was pretty dangerous!
Well, I went back and looked at the directions and the instructions. My wife, Katie, looked at the directions and the instructions. Then, I wound the torsion bar a second time and it unraveled. I did it a third time and it unraveled. And I did it a fourth time and it unraveled. I said, "That's enough!" I called the 1-800 number and explained the problem I was having. I was following the instructions. I was following the directions. Finally, the person on the other end of the line came to the conclusion that the parts were mislabeled! After sending the proper parts (labeled correctly), lo and behold, things worked the way that they were supposed to. This time the parts were correct, and the instructions or directions were correct.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in those years leading up to Martin Luther, (and even sometimes today), the church has received the right instructions, because they have received those instructions from God. The instructions that God has given to His Church are His Word.
The instructions are the Bible.
But, the sad thing is sometimes a church gives to its people the wrong ‘parts’. They have ‘mislabeled’ what God's Word says. So, people using those wrong ‘parts’ are led astray.
Such was the case in those years leading up to the time of Martin Luther. History tells us that there was a family in Germany known as the Brandenburg family. They were a very wealthy family. They wanted to rule over three areas in Germany. So, they approached Pope Leo. They agreed upon a price with Pope Leo to buy the right to rule that land. The Brandenburgs agreed to pay a very large price in order that Albert Brandenburg could rule in those three areas in Germany.
But, the Brandenburgs did not have that kind of money. So, they went to a lending house in Germany by the name of The Fuggers. They borrowed a whole bunch of money in order to pay Pope Leo, who wanted to finish St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.
In order for the Brandenburgs to pay back The Fuggers, Pope Leo allowed the Brandenburgs to sell indulgences in that area of Germany. And so, the Brandenburgs went out and found the person who was the number one seller of indulgences, by the name of John Tetzel. He began to sell indulgences to the people. Half of the money that was made by the sale of indulgences went to the lending house, The Fuggers. Half of the money went to Pope Leo, to finish St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.
Twenty miles away from where those indulgences were being sold was a pastor by the name of Martin Luther. Martin Luther's members were traveling those twenty miles to buy those indulgences. When they would come back to church for confession, they would come to Martin Luther with those indulgences. They would say, "Do you see this? This is a sheet of paper that says I don't have to stop sinning. It tells me that my sins are forgiven. It tells me that I have a free ticket to eternal life in Heaven."
Martin Luther was enraged. Martin Luther found a copy of what the Brandenburgs said John Tetzel could sell indulgences for. So, Luther began writing up arguments against the sale of indulgences. And when he finished, he had a total of 95 arguments against them.
As was the custom of the day, if you wanted to debate something publicly, you posted it on the community bulletin board. Well, the community bulletin board of the day was the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin Luther knew that the very next day, hundreds of thousands of people would be walking by that bulletin board, as they were going to see the relics that would be on display on All Saints’ Day.
And so it was, on All Hallows Eve, October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed those arguments, those 95 statements, those 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany.
Martin Luther was angry because the poor were being cheated out of money that they could use on their family. He was mad that money was being taken away from the rich that could be used for charity. Luther knew that the pope could sell indulgences for things he considered punishment against the people. But the pope had no right to sell indulgences for things that God, in His Word, clearly said were wrong for His people to do.
I want to share two of those statements or two of those theses that Martin Luther placed on that bulletin board. One dealt with purgatory and one dealt with indulgences. In theses 27 Martin Luther said about the church; "They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory."
That is what the church was telling the people. That was a wrong ‘part’ that the church was sharing with the people. But, what is it that God's Word says? The instructions in God's Word says that there is no such thing as purgatory.
In argument 32, or thesis 32 Luther said, "Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned together with their teachers."
Again, a wrong ‘part’ had been given to the people - that they could be saved by the purchase of a sheet of paper, by the purchase of an indulgence. But, what is it that God’s Word says? The instructions in God’s Word says that our sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus as our Savior.
And the Reformation began.
The reformation continues today. We are not saved by works, but we are saved by faith. Our text for today is a classic example of how a person is saved. Are we saved by works, or are we saved by faith? The apostle Paul lays before us the very familiar, wonderful, example of Abraham, the great patriarch of the Old Testament. Was Abraham saved by works, or was Abraham saved by faith? Listen to the argument that the apostle Paul lays out in our text for today.
"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about."
Was Abraham saved by works?
After all, God called Abraham to leave his home country and to go a land that He promised him.
God promised Abraham that the land he would go to would be inherited by his ancestors.
God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, through a son born to him, Isaac. God then made a promise to Abraham. He told him to go and to kill his son, to offer him as a sacrifice. God stopped him and provided another sacrifice.
If there was someone who could be saved by works, was it Abraham? Was he saved by his works? Notice what the apostle Paul says,
"Not before God."
What does the scripture say?
"Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness."
In order to understand this example that Abraham was not saved by works, but rather he was saved by faith in the promise of the coming Messiah, the apostle Paul lays out the argument in verse four.
"Now, when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift but as an obligation."
Dear youth, when you mow a lawn, and you get paid for mowing that lawn, or when you baby-sit and you get paid for babysitting, if the person who hired you came to you and said, "Here is a gift that I am giving to you," what would you say? "That is not a gift that you are giving to me. Rather, you are obligated to give that to me. You hired me to cut your lawn." "You hired me to baby-sit your children. It is not a gift, but it is an obligation."
The apostle Paul then says that is not how it is with our salvation. With our salvation, it is not an obligation, but rather it is a gift that God has given to us. So, could Abraham stand before God and say, "Look at my life. Look at my works?" No, he can't, because if Abraham had done that, God would have said, "You are guilty."
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, imagine if you were to stand before God and say, "Look at my life. Look at my works," what would God say to you? God would say that you are guilty.
Look at the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods." Do you keep God number one in your life, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year? I see your faces this morning. I see guilty written all over them, because you simply cannot keep the First Commandment the way that God wants you to keep it.
Praise be to God
that we are not saved by our life.
Praise be to God
that we are not saved by our works.
Praise be to God
that we are saved by faith in Jesus, as our Savior.
How wonderful it is to know that God, in His Word, gives to His Church the proper instructions of how it is that we are saved, but He also gives us the proper parts.
God's Word tells us that Jesus lived a perfect life, for you, in your place.
God's Word tells us that Jesus took that perfect life of perfection to the cross, for you.
He laid that life of perfection on the cross, for you.
He died in your place.
Your sins have been forgiven.
Eternal life in Heaven is yours.
The directions or instructions are clear. You have been saved through faith. It is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Thanks be to God that we also have received the proper parts from the church. That the forgiveness of sin comes from Word and sacrament.
I will have to admit to you that a couple of years ago, it was pretty scary working on that garage door. As we were following the directions and instructions to properly tighten that torsion bar, it was scary when it came unraveled. And then, we found out that the parts had been mislabeled.
It is an even scarier thing when a church gives to its people the wrong parts, and doesn't share with its people what the proper instructions, the proper directions are of how it is that we get to Heaven.
I hope that you are like me, when we look at the very end of our text for today. I can't wait to hear the words that Jesus is going to say, words that King David once spoke. What comfort those words bring to us, on this Reformation Sunday, once again. What comfort they should bring when God will say to those who have been saved by faith in Jesus, as your Savior,
"Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
Amen.
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