Text: John 8:32
Date: Reformation Day + 10/31/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
On Reformation Day every year we celebrate the 16th century awakening to the Gospel of Jesus Christ which had become grown over like a neglected lawn, grown over, defaced, covered up, even rejected by the confusion of Law and Gospel. Christianity was identified not by the freedom of the forgiveness of sins by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone but by the myriad of laws and rules one must follow and then never being sure that all of your sin has been atoned for. It took the angel of Revelation 14, a messenger of the eternal gospel in the person of the otherwise obscure Augustinian monk named Martin Luther to rediscover, publish and teach the true, pure Gospel. Contrary to uninformed opinion, Luther never intended to “start a new church,” but only to correct abuses, mow and trim the lawn so to speak, uncover and recover the Gospel. Admittedly, that meant eliminating things that were contrary to the pure Gospel. It meant some surgery deeper than many including the Pope were willing to undergo. Finally, Luther and his followers were left to believe and preach and teach officially rejected by the church. The so-called “Lutherans” continued to consider themselves good Catholics, even better Catholics. That’s when the old Catholic Church became the Roman Catholic Church. As long as any identified with the Pope in Rome, they remained apostate to the truth of the pure Gospel. Continue reading “Dare to be Lutheran”