Luther was a revolutionary who turned the teaching of the church upside down

Our text for the Festival of the Revolution is recorded in Matthew 11:12.  

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been advancing forcefully and forceful people are seizing it.

Sons and Daughters of the Lutheran Revolution,

Of all the days since Pentecost, which day has done the most to change the world?  How about July 4, 1776—the American Revolution, which ushered in a new era of freedom and prosperity?   Or maybe July 14, 1789—the French Revolution, which was the beginning of the end for the great monarchies of Europe and exposed dark side of many revolutions, the Reign of Terror.  Maybe October 25, 1917—the Russian Revolution, which led to untold misery and death for millions. 

But revolutions don’t actually happen in a single day.  They take time to unfold and develop.  The Industrial Revolution of the 19^th century changed life throughout the world very dramatically.  The Sexual Revolution of the 1960s drastically changed the moral climate of America for the worse.

So which was the greatest revolution, the revolution that changed the world most and for the better? I would say October 31, 1517—the Lutheran Revolution—a day that turned the world upside down.

Now I know that we have gotten into the rather careless habit of calling the event that began on October 31, 1517 the Lutheran Reformation, but it was a revolution not a reformation.  When it was time to send his reformer, I mean his revolutionary, God did not send a mild-mannered gardener to pull a few weeds and put some nice edging around the flowerbeds.  He sent a lumberjack with a big ax.  Luther had to cut down a forest of oppression and superstition and false doctrine that was smothering the gospel. The reformation was not a garden party—the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is called the battle song of the Reformation.

I suppose it is not entirely wrong to call the work of Martin Luther a reformation.  He did tidy-up or reform a few things of relatively minor importance like the liturgy and many worship customs.  He uprooted some weeds of false teaching that had crept into worship, but left much of the garden intact.

But when it came to the really important things

Luther was a revolutionary who turned the teaching of the church upside down.

I.               He revolutionized the way people thought about sin. 

II.             He revolutionized the way people thought about God.

III.           He revolutionized the way people thought about salvation.

IN LUTHER’S TIME

The Reformation revolutionized the way people thought about sin.  Medieval Christians thought a lot about sins. They kept track of what you could eat when, and they were preoccupied with avoiding hell and escaping purgatory.  They felt a need to go to the priest to confess sins.

What they did not understand was sin. They did not understand that sin is not like a minor sickness or a handicap.  Sin is a fatal disease.   Sin is a condition of spiritual death that leaves us separated from God and unable to do anything to get back to him.  To escape spiritual death, we need to be as holy as God.  Luther realized that to escape sin he had to do more than do enough good to off-set the bad.  He led people to realize that no matter how hard they tried they could not escape sin by their own efforts.

Luther revolutionized the way people thought about the law of God.  The law of God is not to be handled like a butter knife.  It is a sword that slashes and a hammer that smashes. It cuts away every hope that we can save ourselves.

The Reformation revolutionized the way people though about God and Christ.  To be sure, pre-Reformation Christians prayed to “Our Father” every day, but if you look at the medieval pictures of God and of Jesus, how often do you see a smiling happy face?  You most often see God pictured as an angry judge. Even Jesus is distant, and Mother Mary must stand between us.  Luther helped us see again the smiling face of a loving father and a gracious Savior.  The righteousness by which we are saved is not a righteousness of keeping the law which God demands from us, but the righteousness of forgiveness he gives us through Christ. 

The Reformation revolutionized the way people thought about salvation.  It is a gift, not an achievement. It is not that Christians before the Reformation left no room for God’s grace.  They used the sacraments to help them gain the grace or power that would enable them to complete their salvation.  Salvation was a joint project between them and God.  Luther made it clear that salvation is the work of God alone.

I suppose it is not entirely wrong to call the work of Luther a reformation or, better, a re-formation of the church since what he was teaching was not something entirely new which Luther had just invented.  The reformation, the Lutheran revolution, was a kind of time machine in which we travel back to two other days which shook the world.

IN CHRIST’S DAY

 The first day was a dark Friday. The Reformation transports us to the foot of the cross.  We hear the heart-rending words “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” In that cry we understand for the first time the real nature and the real cost of sin.  Here at the foot of the cross we see the bill for sin coming due.  In Christ we see the payment for the tears of the oppressed, for the blood of the innocent, for the cries of the betrayed and abused.  And as you stand there at the foot of the cross, you realize how you have added to the bill that Christ is paying: Every time you said an unkind word, every time you had an evil thought, every time you fought with your brother or sister, every time you disobeyed your parents, every time you were inattentive or half-hearted in worship, every time you shaded the truth to your advantage, every time you were greedy for more or you were discontented with the blessings the Lord had showered on you, you added to Jesus’ bill.  Multiply that steady rain of sin by the days and the months and the years of a lifetime.  Each one adds another blow of the hammer, another lash of the whip. 

But even as we are overwhelmed by it all we hear another cry.  “It is finished.” The earth shakes, the veil of the temple is torn in half, opening the way to God.  The work of paying for sin is finished.  Can it be true?  I hear the judge’s voice, All are justified.  All are declared forgiven.  The Reformation does not present us with a new list of things to do.  It tells us what has been done. 

But there is more. I hear the voice from heaven again, “All are justified freely by his grace.”  We don’t pay anything for this forgiveness? It’s a gift?  It all seems too good to be true.

But even as we marvel, suddenly we are carried away to another place.  It’s a cold Sunday morning in early spring.  Walking through the dark night, in the first light of dawn we see an empty tomb. We look in.   The Jesus we are looking for—so battered and bruised by our sins when saw him last—is not there.  He is gone—and our sins have vanished too.  He has carried them away with him.  He is not here.  He has risen.  As we stand at the empty tomb, God’s angel hands us a bill, our bill, a cancelled bill—we look in amazement at the large letters God has written in a strong bold hand—PAID IN FULL.  Our sins really have been forgiven.  Our world has been turned upside down—from sinner to saint, from dead to alive, from tears of sorrow to hallelujahs of joy.

The Reformation taught us to see clearly again the meaning of those two days that turned our world upside down by engraving on our hearts those words of gold, “It is finished.”

That’s how the Lutheran Revolution turned the world upside down. 

Now I know we are probably not going to be able to get the history books to correct the name of this festival to its real name, the Lutheran Revolution.  Church historians after all are a rather stodgy, conservative bunch, who like old things better than new. But that’s okay.  The name is not so important.  It’s the substance. So next time you name the day that shook the world, go ahead, call it the “the Lutheran Reformation” even though you know better than that.  You can call it a quiet “reformation,” but in your heart you shout “the Lutheran Revolution” the day God turned the world upside down.  

No that’s not quite enough—the Lutheran Revolution, the day God turned your life upside down.  Amen.

May the God of grace who turned the world upside down, be with you, sons and daughters of the revolution, as you go and turn the world upside down.