Finding Faith ... in God’s freely given, mind-blowing, life-altering love

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Oct. 30, 2022.

This week's gospel: John 8:31-36

True Disciples

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

The message:

The other night at confirmation, I began the year’s first class with a lesson on Martin Luther’s doctrine of “Justification by Faith Alone.”

In a nutshell, this doctrine means that we are saved by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross alone, and our belief in his salvic action is all that we need to be saved.

In other words … as I told the kids the other night … there is absolutely NOTHING … we can do to earn God’s love … but the wonderful tradeoff is there also is absolutely NOTHING we can do to separate ourselves from God’s love either. … Now that is something that should give you tingles!

“Justification by Faith Alone.” … God’s grace freely given. No payment needed. … No bar for entrance set.

Faith Family … that is freedom!

And that is the bottom line about what we are celebrating on this Reformation Sunday! … Freedom!

We celebrate Reformation Sunday as symbolic of God’s ever-reforming church taking place through the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s active presence in the world.

Today, we celebrate our FREEDOM to help God reform this ever-changing world!

So … where did all this begin? … This belief in the freedom of God’s love, which thus inspires us to go out into the world and be His change agents?

Well, let’s take a little trip back to 1517, when a German priest named Martin Luther, who in an act of infamous defiance of the church, tacked his list of 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Church, thus striking a match to the already brewing dissent within the Catholic church.

Over the course of the next 50 or so years, Luther and other thoughtful and concerned priests like him would write volumes about the so-called reformation, writings that would eventually become the basis of our Lutheran faith. Those priests, often at their own peril, critiqued what they saw as the indulgences and the errors of the Christian church as they saw them in their day.

In opposition to church teachings, Luther would argue that Christians, following in the footsteps of Christ, WERE NOT helpless in the fight against the earthly agents that prevent God’s Kingdom from becoming reality here, in the present.

No, in fact, Martin Luther would insist that God’s loving grace had the opposite effect on us. … He would write volumes expounding upon what it meant to be set free through God’s love. … And at the heart of it all is always “Justification by Faith Alone.”

The very principle that is the foundation of our faith, which is worth repeating: We can do NOTHING to earn God’s love … and there is absolutely NOTHING we can do to separate ourselves from God’s love either.

Now, tell me, Faith Family, what is more powerfully freeing than that knowledge?

In identifying that freedom, in the early 16th century, you could say that Martin Luther and his contemporaries witnessed firsthand the reform God was bringing about in the church, and they identified it as such. … They were being God’s change agents in a very tangible way.

They recognized what God was doing in their lives, and they were emboldened by that freedom to speak directly to the masses of believers, teaching them that they were an active part of God’s plan right here on earth. … That they were involved in making the Heavenly Kingdom a reality.

Now, you can imagine what the church, a human-created institution built on power and hierarchy and greed, thought about this!

So Martin Luther and his contemporaries knew that it was imperative to use the church’s own deep history -- the roots of the faith, so to speak -- to tell the story of God’s love for his people. … A love that continued to see the church through necessary reforms … age after age. Including theirs.

Martin Luther knew … in his SOUL … that the Holy Spirit was continuously active in bringing God’s Kingdom to fruition here on earth.

He understood that our God isn’t a God of the past … but in fact, our God is a God of the past … AND a God of the present … AND a God of the future!

Martin Luther realized that this church that had essentially rested on its laurels for 1,500 years … must rather be a church that is continually being reformed in order to live out the love of Christ in an ever-changing world. … Just like the front of our bulletin states.

Freedom. … Faith Family, we are given the freedom of Christ’s love … the freedom to choose what we will do with that love!

We can choose to be Christ’s active change agents here in our current world. … Or we can choose to do nothing. … Now, can you think of anything more powerful … anything more awe-inspiring than that?

We have a God who loves us so much … loves us so completely that he doesn’t demand our obedience! … He doesn’t guilt us into discipleship.

He lays out his love, free of charge … and says, “My beloved child, come take it and be a part of the Kingdom of God.”

Now that is something to celebrate! … Wow!

Faith Family … On this Reformation Day, we celebrate that Good News of God’s grace. … The Good News that Jesus Christ sets us free every day to do life-transforming work … Kingdom-transforming work.

As Jesus tells us in our gospel text today, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and truth will make you free.”

The truth shall set you free. … Now, how many times in your life have you heard someone utter those words? … We casually say it all the time, don’t we?

But just think about that “truth” one … more … time.

I’m going to set this up for you. … Make it a little more dramatic.

Faith Family … every single one of us… is free to choose! … We can choose to accept God’s love. … We can choose to accept that God sent his ONLY son here to earth to be tortured, crucified and murdered in exchange that we would have a free ticket to eternity.

Or we can reject God’s offer. … We can deny his love and go about our everyday business of living a life centered on us alone.

God gives you and me -- the choice! … No strings attached.

This may be hard for some of us to believe. … After all, we are all conditioned by an earthly kingdom that operates in an entirely different way. … Here, in our human condition, we don’t like to talk about it, but every relationship is a transactional relationship … isn’t it?

I will love you, BUT … here is what I expect in return. … There’s no free lunch in this world, as the saying goes.

But, Faith Family, there IS a different way. … God’s way. God’s love and eternity freely given. … And that is what we are celebrating here on this Reformation Day. … God sets us free to be the people of love, bringing to reality his Heavenly Kingdom, right here on earth.

Faith Family … God is calling each of us today, on this very special day. … Our church, both Faith Lutheran specifically, and our wider, collective body of Christ is continually in need of reform.

This world is not static. The needs of God’s beloved children, black or white or red or yellow, American or not, developed nations or not, northern or southern hemisphere … all of his children are in need.

The list of reasons for us to be Christ’s hands and feet … HIS change agents here on earth … is monumental. Look around you and there is no shortage of hurt, of poverty, of hunger, of sickness, of those who are jailed … those who are alone. … And we are called.

I just gotta ask: How often have you heard someone ask: Well, where is God in all of this?

And you know what God is asking each of us today … on this Reformation Sunday … where are you in all of this?

You see, because if we truly are answering God’s call. … If we truly have chosen his free gift of love … then we should be changed ourselves. Then we should become part of God’s continually reforming church as his change agents in the flesh.

Because that is exactly how powerful his mercy is. … He loves us so hard, so unconditionally … that he in turn gives us the freedom to love, the freedom to change this world, the freedom to make the kingdom of heaven a reality right here on earth?

So, how about Faith Family? … Are you in?

Do you accept God’s freely given, mind-blowing, life-altering, world-transforming, kingdom-bringing … love?

And that, Faith Family, is the Good News for this Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022 … Happy Reformation Sunday Faith Family! … Amen.