October 25, 2020 Reformation Sunday

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” So St. Paul greets the church in Rome (1:7). And in Chapter Three he says, “There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” The Gospel of John tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. … And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. … For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 16, 17, RSV).

The word “grace” is a happy word. It has all the love and kindness and goodwill of God in it. It means that God likes us. He wants to bless us and make our lives happy. By definition, grace is the feeling of a superior toward an inferior. God has grace for us, but we do not have grace toward God. Grace is not obligation. God is god and so God does not have to love us and be kind to us. God does not have to save us. Therefore grace is a gift. It is something that we do not deserve. It is not given to us as wages or because we work for it.

Recently in my reading I came across the phrase, “the word ‘grace’ is a verb.” In other words, the feeling of grace in God’s heart is put into action in gracious deeds which bring his blessings to us. The expression that we are saved by grace means that God did something to save us. That work is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who was “full of grace and truth.” Likewise, God’s love is not just a feeling, it is the action of sending His Only Begotten Son. That love and grace give us eternal life.

At the time of the Reformation everyone knew and believed that we are saved by the grace of God. Luther, the church in Rome, and other Protestants believed that. What Martin Luther emphasized was that we are saved by grace alone. The Latin phrase “Sola Gratia, Grace Alone” became short hand to express all that that means. It means that God did all the work to save us. We do nothing to earn it. We do not deserve it. It is a gift. It is free. We have no obligation except to accept it. That acceptance is called “faith.” And another Latin phrase, “Sola Fide, Faith Alone,” became short hand to express all that that means. Faith means that we cannot buy salvation, we cannot earn it or work for it. Faith is not something we do, it is simply admitting what God has done for us, that God in his grace has given us, has graced us, with salvation.

If you have been in the Lutheran Church for even only a short time you have heard this numerous times. Why do we keep saying it? Why is it so important?

It is important because this is the way we live our everyday lives. The grace of God is in every aspect of our lives. We confess that whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy (gracious) kingdom come, Thy (gracious) will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

It is the grace of God that gives us our daily bread, that forgives our sins, and that protects us in the time of temptation and evil. And so we see the grace of God in action everyday in our lives. And we realize that God is “gracing us.” And that produces our faith.

The grace of God has given us the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to make us holy. When that happens, the grace of God works in our hearts, our hearts become more like the gracious heart of God. Love and kindness and goodwill are in our hearts and so we can give that to others. It is not an obligation or a duty. We are free to be gracious. That is what love is. That is pure joy and peace.

A few years ago one Sunday School boy wrote what his favorite part of the church service was. It was the words of the Benediction. We kidded him that he liked it because it meant the service was over and he could now go out and play. He protested that it was because he loved those words. Those words are loved by most Christians because they are pure Gospel. They actually do give the peace and grace that they proclaim. And so we close the sermon with those words.

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and (+) give you peace.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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