Introduction:
Christmas is less than 2 months away. At that time you will receive and send special greeting cards. Consider for a second what kinds of messages the typical card contains. (pause) Now consider your response to the following.
A pastor tells the story of the most provocative card he had ever received. It wasn't irreverent in any way, but it asked this thought provoking question on the cover: “What if Christ had not come?” As he opened the card to the inside page, it told the story of a pastor who had fallen asleep on Christmas Day and dreamed of a world in which Christ had not come. In his dream a frantic knock on the door summoned him to the hospital and to the bedside of a dying mother. He opened his Bible, but where he expected to find a message of Gospel comfort and hope, he found nothing. The pages were empty, completely blank. As the dream continued the subsequent funeral was agony for him and everyone. All he could say was, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” And then he spoke a few mushy sentiments about the deceased and her life.
The pastor who had received that card said, “After reading the poignant message, I admit that there was a bit more gusto in my voice the next time I sang, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”
I know that this is our Reformation celebration and that Christmas is still weeks away. But the message of the incarnate Son of God, come to redeem mankind from sin, death, and the devil, is the foundation of the Christian faith and life; it can't be separated from Reformation. Indeed our Reformation celebration completely revolves around that truth. It reminds us that people are in danger of losing that in every age when they don't continue to stand firm in it. That was true in Martin Luther's time; that was true in Paul's time; it was true in Jesus' time; it was true in Daniel's time, and it is true in our day, too.
Therefore our lessons today all call us to one thing that we children of God and heirs of the Reformation heritage must ever keep before us. It is the encouragement: Stand Firm in Christ.
I. Stand Firm in grace alone. Galatians 5:1-6
They were poor people – paupers – peasants. Uneducated they had to struggle in order to eke out a living, yet they scraped together enough money to buy indulgences even if it meant going hungry for a few days. Indulgences were little pieces of paper on which were written promises of forgiveness for sin and of escape from a place of punishment called purgatory.
Purgatory is the place where the church in Luther's day said you went when you died. Unless you were one of the special saints, you didn't go to heaven; you didn't go to hell – unless you were really wicked; you went to purgatory where you had to pay for the rest of your sins that Christ didn't die for.
You see for hundreds of years already, the church had claimed that Christ died for some sin, but not all of it. You still had to be purged of that sin He didn't die for before you could get into heaven. So, when you died you went to purgatory to pay the rest of the price for all your sin. There you suffered fire and torment until you were completely purged of it. It could take thousands of years.
But, if you paid money for these slips of indulgences that the pope signed, you could subtract hundreds of years off your suffering and that of your loved ones who had died before you. With that kind of assurance coming from the pope himself, who wouldn't want to spend money on indulgences – even if it meant that you couldn't put food on the table for your children for a few days? It was either that or hundreds of thousands of years to spend in the cleansing fires. That was a horrible thought.
And with other such teachings the church of Luther 's day had taught the people to see God as an angry Judge who would punish them for their sins. It was not a religion of redeeming love but a religion of fear that focused on a person's appeasing God.
1500 years before that the Galatians had been heading down the same path. Paul had clearly taught them that the Lord Jesus was their Savior from all guilt and every punishment for sin. God in His grace had gone the whole route by bringing sinners completely back to Him because no sinner is capable of earning his way to God. In love He gave His only begotten Son who could and did redeem us. Saved by grace alone – it was Paul's message.
But as Paul moved on to preach this good news of the Gospel elsewhere, others came into the church with a different message. They insisted that there were still things for people to do to get to heaven. They made salvation dependent upon deeds and laws, and fanned the same flames of fear within people's hearts as the sale of indulgences did in Luther's day. For if your salvation before God is dependent on what you do or what you buy, you can never be sure that you have bought or done enough. And you never can buy nor do enough to please a holy God who requires perfection.
But God could. And He did it for you by sending Christ, His perfect Son. He did all; He paid for it all with His death and resurrection to give you heaven immediately. That's grace. As Paul said, “Christ has set us free.” It's a free gift of undeserved love. That's grace.
It's true, dear friends, a holy God is angry at your sin and mine – every single one of them. A price has to be paid for it, but not in purgatory. In His gracious love God paid it when we couldn't. In the Savior your sins are forgiven, all of them, forgiven by grace alone . Don't let anyone or anything scare you from that truth. Rather acknowledge your need. Then Stand Firm In Christ and in His grace alone.
II. Stand Firm by faith alone. Daniel 6:10-13, 16-23 I read a story the other day about a handicapped girl. One day a classmate began to go up and down the aisles passing out invitations to her birthday party. The handicapped child had never been to a party before. She couldn't wait to get her invitation. But when her classmate came down her row with the invitations, the handicapped girl was skipped. Every girl in class received an invitation except her. What rejection! What pain! She had counted on this classmate for some love and kindness.
Maybe Daniel felt much the same way. He hadn't done anything to his jealous co-workers. God had made him just a better leader and administrator than they. Yet, filled with evil jealousy, they duped the king into passing a decree which, in most circumstances, led to certain death. Daniel couldn't count on his fellow associates either. What rejection! What pain!
In a sinful world that will happen. Jesus did nothing wrong; they crucified Him. Luther did nothing wrong except boldly preach the truth of salvation in Christ, and he was condemned to be burned at the stake. You can't count on men because no man is infallible – only God is. We can and must only count on Him. That's what faith is, counting only on God. Daniel stood firm in such faith and God saved him.
Right next to the truth in Scripture that we are saved by grace alone stands the wonderful fact that God saves us by faith alone . They go together - hand in hand. In God's presence Daniel was saved not because he prayed three times a day, or because he ate only clean foods, or because he was willing to die rather than pray to the king. Daniel was a sinner like everyone else. He was saved before God because of God's grace for him. He trusted in that undeserved love of God and received its blessing by faith.
As Daniel faced the lions in that faith, he continued to count on God. Whether Daniel lived or died in the lions' den, he knew that he was God's child, loved and redeemed by grace. And in that grace God gave him more than eternal salvation; He also chose to rescue Daniel from the lions because God still had work for him to do. Daniel believed, stood firm in faith , and trusted that God would do what was best for him and others.
Saved by grace through faith alone - standing firm in those truths. Daniel did; Paul did; Luther did, too. They trusted in God for everything. May we, standing firm in faith alone count on Him, too, for life and for eternity.
III. Stand Firm in His Word alone. Matthew 10:16-23
I heard it again this past Wednesday when the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series: “The fans here are the greatest!” It seems like every championship team says the same thing: “Our fans are the greatest.” Well, what makes for great fans?
Some think that because the fans cheer the loudest at a certain time that they're the greatest. But wouldn't it be more truthful to say that the greatest fans are not necessarily those who cheer the loudest, but those who cheer the longest?
You see, there will always be people who cheer for a team that's winning. The world loves winners and quickly jumps on their bandwagon. But what happens when the tough times come, when winning turns more regularly into losing? Then, so often you see fans who sit there with bags on their heads, not eager to be identified with the team below. Great fans are those who stick with their team through thick and thin. They will cheer just as loudly when their team is losing as when they are winning. They possess a certain constancy.
Jesus made a similar point when He taught us about matters of faith in Him, the Savior. The Bible says, “To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn.8:31) The true disciple stands firm in Christ in His Word alone and keeps on holding to it through thick and thin. There is a quality of constancy there.
After the Reformation had begun and things began to get a little rough on the Reformers because the pope and the church threatened them, some began to give up and desert the truths of the Gospel lest they be killed. When Martin Luther observed this retreat back to wrong teachings, He said, “It is easy to believe when life is going well. Yet, there are few who remain true to the gospel in the face of cross and persecution.”
Don't you know how true that is? It's hard to hold to Jesus' teaching when trouble comes. There are so many questions and doubts that pester and plague our faith in hardship. The harder the times, the harder the questions become. The temptation is to let go of Jesus' teaching when trouble comes.
Jesus also knew that to be true. So He warned those who believed in Him, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes….Be on guard against men…And when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit speaking through you….And he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
“Sheep among wolves” is the way Jesus described the way in which He sends His people out into this world. It's not a comforting thought. What sheep could stand against wolves and survive?
Yet, the sheep are not as helpless as they may seem for Jesus gives them godly wisdom so that they can be “shrewd as snakes.” And as they go He will also give them the words they are to say. But the greatest motivator is the promise that He spoke at the end: “And he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
So what's Jesus' message for us this Reformation season? What's He calling for in us as He reminds us of where we stand in Him in His saving grace by faith alone? He calls for constancy: “Whether times are good or bad, hard or easy, prosperous or poor, at all times stand firm in my Word . Hold on tight!” The benefit? “You will know the truth in me, the truth will set you free, and you will be saved.” God grant it in our lives for His name's sake.