1). The story is told of a young law student who was wending
his way home along a path through a Thuringian forest when a terrible storm
suddenly blew up. Lightening tore the sky apart, it’s thunder echoed across
the hills and the nearby valleys. The rain appeared to fall in buckets.
Suddenly, lightening struck a tree directly in front of him, splitting it into
two pieces. The larger half of the tree feel across his path narrowly missing
this young attorney. The storm continued to rage. Certain that he was going
to die; the terrified young man fearfully fell to the ground. On his knees,
fear in his heart, he cried out: “St. Anne, save me. I will become a monk!”
The law student was good to his promise. As soon as he got his affairs in order,
he entered an Augustine Monastery in Eurfurt, Germany. We all remember the leadership
of the Priest named Martin Luther.
a). Luther lived at a time when many women and men sought refuge in the convent
or the monastery where they could live Holy lives. It was an ideal place for
someone like Luther, who like is contemporaries, lived in constant fear of God,
who they regarded as an avenging judge.
II). But the fear of damnation of an “angry God” haunted Luther,
even in the monastery. He held the mistaken belief that his own self-punishment
would satisfy God’s wrath for his sin. Then, after years of study, Luther
made an incredible discovery. Where before he feared God and believed that the
only way to obtain forgiveness was through exemplary living and self-flagellation,
he discovered that God embraced him out of infinite love for who he was.
A). The truth is that we are rescued and find our relationship with God solely
by His love and grace. There is no other way. None!
1) Good works do not add up in our account to earn us favor with God. Yes, they
are important signs of our walk with God and our relationship with him in Christ,
but we are loved first and foremost by God.
2) Our works are useful for the good that they do in caring for the poor and
hurting of the world. Moreover, they are valuable to the extent that they honor
and Glory to God, but they are worthless as “bargaining chips.”
B). Can you imagine the joy and the surprise that Luther must have felt when
he read our Scripture passes today? “For God so loved the world that he
gave his only son….” Or “by grace you have been saved.”
The rat-race was over. The struggle to try to please God, to earn a relationship
was a non starter!
1). A retiring pastor was preaching his farewell sermon. He told his congregation,
“Amazingly, in spite of all the growth and changes that have taken place
in the past 15 years, two things remain the same.
“When I arrived, during my very first sermon I told you something about
myself that I felt you needed to know. It was something of which I was not particularly
proud. Do you remember what that was? I told you that I was not perfect. I remember
being rather emphatic about it at the time. Now, here it is, 15 years later
that I must confess after all these years of Ministry here, in spite of all
the things that have learned, in spite of all the many ways that I have grown,
in spite of all the maturity that I have gained, I regret to say that I am still
as “imperfect” today as I was the day that I walked in here.
The retiring pastor went on to state: “The other thing that has not changed
is this fact: God still loves me. I don’t know why, but for some reason
God loves us. He sent his son, Jesus, to die for us, to rise again, for us.
All this He did that we might know how much he loved us.”
III). The issues of life and death, good and evil are fought
out in our lives every day at that point where God makes a claim on us: When
Jesus, the Christ drops by (through our memories, that funny twitch we often
refer to as “conscience”) and invites us to “abandon our nets
by the sea shore and follow him.” To join in a close relationship with
Him that allows us to reflect his live through our words, our actions our prayers
for others.
A). Each day, we have been given as opportunity; to dig in our heals and say
“get out of my way…I’m right” or to, as the Christ did,
recognize the opportunity to forgive, to look for the path of peace and harmony,
to build bridges and not barricades. As Martin Luther experienced: we not be
enjoined in the day to day struggle for a battle there is no hope to win, rather
to recognize that God loved us first, and invites us to journey along side of
him through Christ our Lord; to be a reflection of God’s love through
our words, our actions and our prayers.