LOVE PROMOTES THE GOSPEL!

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Most of you probably know that Martin Luther was in hiding in the Wartburg Castle for about a year. While his whereabouts were unknown, he took on the secret identity of Duke George. He finally went back to the city of Wittenberg. But, does anybody know the event that brought Martin Luther out of hiding?

Let's go back a year earlier to the spring of 1521. Martin Luther was on trial in the city of Worms, Germany. He was told that he should take back his teaching that we are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. Martin Luther refused to take that back. He said, "I will not, cannot recant. Here I stand, so help me God."

His life, at that point, was in danger. And, because he was considered a criminal, anybody could take his life. And so, some of his friends kidnapped him. They whisked him away to a castle, called the Wartburg Castle. There, they changed his identity, and he became known as Duke George. During that time, Martin Luther’s whereabouts was a well guarded secret.

While he was in the Wartburg Castle, he translated the Bible into German, so that everybody in Germany could read the Bible!

In the meantime, in the city of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther had been pastor and professor, (I suppose that what you would call), "church pandemonium" or "ecclesiastical pandemonium" had broken out. Reform was in the air. Martin Luther had stood up. He had confessed the truth. There were people in Wittenberg who were proceeding forward with the thought, "Change is in the air. There are a lot of things in the church that should change."

They were eager to start to change all kinds of things in the church. One of them was a pastor by the name of Andreas Von Carlstadt. Carlstadt began to point at all of the things that were wrong in the church. An example was this. He pointed at the churches and expressed the concept, "You know, in the churches there are statues of saints. It is ok to have those statues, because you could use a statue in the right way. It could be used to show people saints were Christians, who were just like we are. They were sinners, who believed in Jesus. They went on to live God-pleasing lives. But, a lot of those statues are used in the wrong way. People almost worship them, as idols."

And so, Carlstadt said, "We are going to change that. We are going to get rid of all of the statues in all of the churches." He got a crowd of people all whipped up. They went into the churches, took down all of the statues, and shattered them.

Some of the people in Wittenberg, who had grown up all of their lives with the statues in their churches, were troubled in their hearts. They did not know whether it was right or wrong to shatter all of those statues.

Carlstadt went on. The people were taught that no one, nobody could touch the cup or the chalice that holds the blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Nobody could touch that except the priest. And, when he touched it, he had to have a white cloth wrapped around it, a pure white cloth. If any lay person were to touch the chalice with the blood of Christ, that would be a terrible sin. They had grown up believing that. And, Carlstadt said, "There is nothing wrong with a layman touching a chalice."

The people had also been taught for years that the host, that little piece of bread that is given at the Lord's Supper, the only person who can hold that in their hands is the priest. And if any lay person were to touch the host of Christ, that would be considered a terrible sin. And so, Carlstadt said, "We are going to change that. There is nothing wrong with any lay person touching the chalice or holding onto the host of Christ."

And so, when people would come up to Communion, he would force them, to take a hold of the chalice and to take the host of Christ in their hands.

Some of them were ok with that. But others, who had grown up all of their lives thinking that was a sin, weren't sure whether they should be touching that chalice, or not. And, it bothered their conscience.

Carlstadt said, "The priests wear those robes in the Lord's Supper. We don't have to wear robes. I am going to distribute the Lord's Supper in street clothes." And, he did it.

The people went to church and some of them were ok with it, but some of them, in their hearts, wondered, "Is that ok for him to be doing that?"

Well, there was pandemonium in the city of Wittenberg. Elector Frederick, who was the political leader, told Carlstadt, "You have to slow down, slow down. You are going way too fast."

But, some of the councilmen in Wittenberg wanted these changes to continue on and keep moving forward. There was such turmoil that finally someone said, "Let's get Martin Luther to come out of hiding." They were sure that he would back up what Carlstadt was doing.

And so, they asked Martin Luther to come out of hiding at the Wartburg Castle, which he did. He mounted the pulpit in St. Mary's church, in Wittenberg. (He had not been in that pulpit for an entire year.) And, for eight straight days, he preached eight sermons about change. And, they all gathered to eagerly hear what Luther had to say.

What do you think he said about all of those changes that were taking place? What do you think he said? Well, some people were surprised by what he said. He said, "I would not have done what you did. You have gone too fast and you have gone too far." He explained to Carlstadt: There is nothing wrong with people holding the chalice in their hands. There is nothing wrong with people holding the host in their hands, as you have made them do. There is nothing wrong with you wearing street clothes, when you distribute the Lord's Supper. You used your knowledge, but you have made change in a loveless way. You see, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. You have injured the consciences of many people who were not ready for that change, yet. You have caused them to touch in their hands the chalice of Christ and in their hearts they were not sure whether they should be doing that. And you have caused them to go against their own consciences. How could you do that? If you want to handle the body of Christ in your hand, tell me, and I will come to your house. I will bring the host of Christ, and you can handle it all day, but don't make somebody else do it, if it goes against their conscience."

Luther was simply reiterating what we find in our sermon text today, from 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. What was happening in the city of Corinth was that there were false idols and there was meat that was sacrificed to those idols. The meat that was left over was sold at the market place. You could buy it, like at the grocery store. Or, you could go to feasts and eat it at the feast. Some people were asking, "Is that ok, or is it not ok?" "Is it a sin to eat that meat, or isn't it a sin to eat that meat?"

St. Paul says, in today's scripture reading,

"So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols:

We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world

and that there is no God but one."

In other words, "We know there are not such things as idols. They don't even really exist. And so, it wasn't really even sacrificed to a god. That god does not exist." If you know that, and you want to go to the grocery store, buy that meat, and you want to eat it, there is nothing wrong with that. It is not a sin to eat that meat. You’re not practicing idolatry.

But, our scripture reading today says that you have to be very careful, very careful in how you use your Christian freedom. There are things that we call ‘adiaphora.’ You have probably heard that term before. It is a Greek word that means, ‘matters of indifference'. There are some things where scripture is very clear. It gives a clear command or a clear promise. Those are not matters of indifference. We stand on those and we don't change on those, no matter what. But, there are other things where scripture is indifferent. It does not forbid something, nor command it. Scripture does not forbid that we have pews and it does not command that we have pews. That is a matter of indifference. If we want to have them, great. And if we don't want to have them, that is fine, too. It is a matter of adiaphora.

There are many matters of adiaphora. But, scripture says we need to very careful how we use those. We don’t' want to use them in a way like Carlstadt was using them. He was going too fast. He was getting people, even though they were free to do the things that he was having them do in the worship service, he was getting them to go against their own consciences.

And so, our scripture reading has this principal. It says we need to be careful for weak brothers. It says, "So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ."

There are a lot of things here at Holy Cross that are matters of indifference.

And, we make a lot of decisions in matters of adiaphora. It may be PTO that makes decisions. It may be ladies Circles who make decisions. It may be church boards; it may be church councils or committees that make decisions on adiaphora. But, the principal is: It is not about what I want.

See, I can be forward and selfishly say, "This is the way I want it to be. And, if you don't do things the way I want, I am going to get mad. I am going to get upset."

Has that ever happened? Do you think that ever happens in a church, that people get mad and upset, because matters of adiaphora did not go exactly the way they want? Sure it does. It happens in a church. It can happen in any church. It can happen in our church. I am sure it has happened in our church, many times. We all have a sinful nature, every one of us, every one of us! Every one of us has a sinful nature that wants to be self-centered and have things go our way. And, every one of us should recognize that in ourselves. Every one of us should be repentant of our selfish, sinful nature.

Thank the Lord Jesus, that our Savior, Jesus, was not selfish in our regard. Our Savior, Jesus, was selfless for you and for me. He was so selfless that He was willing to be shamed in our place, take our sin and our guilt. And, that is such a humbling thing to know that your Savior did that for you, even though you in no way deserve it. He went to the cross and He paid for all of our sins.

But, the important thing to remember is also this. It is also this. He did not just do that for you.

You may be the smartest one here at church, but Jesus did not die just for you. You may have the strongest faith of anyone here at church, but Jesus didn't just die for you. You may give the most offerings here at church, but Jesus didn't die just for you. He died for the weak among us, as well. He took them in His arms. And they are just as dear to Him and just as important to Him as the strongest, the smartest, the greatest among us. Our Lord Jesus, like a shepherd protecting His little sheep, took even the weakest in His arms. He purchased them at the same price. He died for them. And He shed His blood for them.

That is how we have to treat one another in a church. That is how we ought to treat one another in a church. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. And so, we go forward together in unity. And, we understand, as decisions get made in a church, "It is not all about what I want." That is not what it is about. It is about displaying our Christian love for one another. It is about the Gospel of Christ, and seeing to it that we display Christ. We display Christ, our Savior, to one another by the way we treat one another, for Christ's sake.

Amen.

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