October 1, 2017

October is “Lutheran Reformation Month.” And it is especially important this year because it is the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther posted his famous 95 Theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. That was the start of the Reformation. After that, through many debates and controversies and official statements and confessions of belief, the Holy Spirit was guiding Christians to understand the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a sermon series this October, I want to focus each week on one of the important themes of the Reformation. Today the theme is “grace alone.” Each week the sermon outline will be this: A. Definition of terms, B. Why it was important at the time of the Reformation, and C. Why it is important for us today.

A. Let’s define the term “grace.” The Latin word is “gratia” and the Greek word is “charis” and the Hebrew word is “chen.” In the Bible it means “favor.” It means that God likes something, or is pleased with someone. It is like the words of the benediction at the end of church, “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.” According to Genesis 6:8, God did not destroy the whole fallen world of sinners in the great flood because God liked Noah, “Noah found grace in the eyes of God.” But according to Roman 3:23-24, this time God showed this grace to all people even though we are sinners, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Grace is like a gift. It is love. It is mercy. It is free. It is not wages; it is not something that we work for. It is a one-way action of God. Sometimes we use the word “grace” as a verb meaning that God gives us something. He graces us good weather, good food, and his presence. And so the word grace means something that is good, beautiful, and even elegant. A graceful dancer has been gifted, or graced by God, with that talent.

B. At the time of the Reformation, grace became something to fight about. Actually, everyone believed and taught that we are saved by God’s grace, the Roman Catholics, the Lutherans, and other Protestants, too. The opposite of God’s grace would be his wrath and the death of all sinners. Humans can not live eternally in heaven without the work of God. Everyone knew we are saved by the grace of God. The controversy started when the Lutherans said that we are saved by grace “alone,” “sola gratia-solely by grace.” This is based on the teaching of St. Paul in the Book of Romans. Previously people were taught that we are saved by grace plus our works. We had to be good people before getting God’s grace. If we were good people then God would like us and give us his favor, his grace, and his salvation. But could we ever be good enough? No, we could never be. Only Jesus Christ can be good enough. And Jesus gives us his goodness. He graces us with the forgiveness of sin. It is redemption. It is justification by his grace as a gift. We can do nothing to earn it. We do nothing to get it. Therefore it is a gift. Therefore it is “grace alone.” This is what the reformers taught.

C. This is important for us today because a) we are mistakenly told by Sunday school teachers that we have to be good little boys and girls if we want to go to heaven and b) everything in our culture is against the idea of “grace alone.” It is so in economics, society, politics, work, school and in the family, too. We are taught that success in life is gained by what we work hard for. Grace seems like a cheap, easy way out. Of course it was not cheap for Jesus. To give us grace Jesus had to pay for it on the cross with his life blood. That is why grace is a very valuable, costly thing. In the Old Testament, people could buy forgiveness by sacrificing a lamb on the altar. At the time of Luther, the church taught that you could buy forgiveness. You could buy grace, with indulgences and other things. But how can you buy something that has an infinite price tag? And why buy something that is free? When you receive something that is free, a gift, a present, what is your reaction? It is gratification; you are pleased to receive grace. You say “thank you.” [E.g., Spanish.] In gratification of God’s sola gratia, in the freedom of that free gift, we show our thanks in our lives. Because we will go to heaven we try to be good little boys and girls. Therefore we try to share God’s grace with the world, starting with those close to us whom we love.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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