Presbyterian Church of Easton
Sermon Romans 1:16-17 “Martin Luther”
May 30, 2021
April 2, 1521, five hundred years ago, Martin Luther got into a covered cart for the long difficult journey from Wittenberg to Worms. As he made his way through villages and country roads large crowds assembled to meet him. On April 16, 1521, Luther took a ferry across the Rhine and entered the city of Worms where he was greeted by thousands of cheering people.
The Diet, an assembly of all the political and religious leaders of Germany, was also meeting in Worms that day. This meeting was led by Charles V., Holy Roman Emperor. In the Diet, there were 80 princes, 130 counts, ambassadors from other kingdoms, and Cardinals of the Church.
Several months before the Diet, the Pope issued a ban on Luther and excommunicated him from the Church. The Diet assembled to deal with Luther. He was to be tried as a heretic. We will get to all this, but first, let’s pray with Luther using his morning prayer
“I thank you, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.” https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/luthers-morning-prayer-model-christians-daily-life/
Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483. His father had started as a miner but went on to eventually own a series of foundries. Luther was sent to school to learn Latin. His father hoped that Luther would go into Law or Diplomacy and be able to support the family.
The young Luther was torn between the emotions of love and fear. Luther loved God. But, he feared going to hell. The medieval church painted a portrait of God with two heads: an angry wrathful God who sent people to hell, and a merciful God who let people into heaven. Luther worried about how to get past the wrathful God to the merciful one. The church taught that Jesus was an implacable judge. So people were afraid to pray to either God or Jesus. But people could pray to Mary, Jesus’ mother, hoping that she could influence Jesus' decisions. And if this didn't work people could always pray to Mary's mother, Saint Anne.
One day Luther was riding on horseback through a violent thunderstorm. A lightning bolt struck nearby and he fell off his horse. Fearing for his own life, Luther prayed to Saint Anne, Mary’s mother, and promised to enter a monastery if she would save his life. His life was spared and within two weeks, at age 22, Luther entered an Augustinian monastery over the strong objection of his father. Luther became a priest and celebrated his first Mass in May of 1507.
In November of 1510, Luther was sent to Rome as a legal representative. He remained in Rome for six months. There he found the Roman clergy to be ignorant and frivolous. Their masses were mass-produced and sold for money. Greed, not faith, ruled the religion of the day.
Luther moved to Wittenberg in 1511 where he received his doctorate in theology. There he began a series of lectures on the Bible. As he lectured on the Book of Romans, he realized that righteousness was not something that we have to achieve. Rather righteousness was a characteristic of God, which comes from God to all who believe. With God's righteousness, which we receive through Jesus Christ, we become righteousness. Or using the words of the Apostle Paul,
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
While Luther was lecturing on scripture at Wittenberg, the Pope was looking for a way to pay his bills. A Dominican preacher named Johann Tetzel was a master marketer. He had the ability to make money, large amounts of money. And this is just what the Church of Rome needed. The cost of building St. Peter Cathedral was running too high. Michelangelo’s bill for painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel was due. The church needed money quickly. So they hired Tetzel to do fundraising throughout Christendom.
Tetzel's fundraising centered on the selling of indulgences. He told people that the church was like a bank. Saints had made deposits of righteousness over the centuries. These righteous deposits could be used by sinners today to placate an angry God. All a sinner had to do was to buy an indulgence from the church for money and the righteousness of the saints would balance the sinner’s account with God. Tetzel promoted this scam all over Europe and raised a mountain of money for the church.
By October 31, 1517, Luther was fed up with what Tetzel was doing. Luther wanted to start a discussion among Christian scholars on the topic of indulgences. So he invited them to a debate in the usual manner. He wrote 95 Theses and attached them to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. In these 95 Theses, Luther said that repentance is an act of the faithful not a sacrament of the church. And the Pope had no right to remit guilt and the just penalty for sin. Therefore the preaching of indulgences by the church was in error.
He argued that Christians should be taught that salvation comes only from the mercy of God, and he stated that Christians should be instructed that it is better to give to the poor than to buy indulgences from the church. He argued that preachers should focus not on preaching indulgences to raise money, but on the Word of God and the grace of God that promises us the inheritance of heaven.
Luther began writing prolifically. He supplied printers with much new material which was purchased by people who had just learned how to read.
A very concerned Pope Leo X tried to get him to stop criticizing the church. When this did not work he declared Luther's writing heretical in 1520 and finally excommunicated Luther in 1521.
The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V., then summoned Luther to appear before the Diet of Worms to get him to recant his teachings. Charles opened the trial by saying that the health of the church was at stake and Luther should recant quickly.
Johann Eck was the prosecutor. Eck was a strong supporter of selling indulgences. Eck showed Luther a table of books and asked him if these were written by him. Luther said they were. Immediately Eck asked Luther to recant and reject the ideas he had written. Luther then asked for time to consider the request. Eck responded that Luther had no right to make such a request, but the Emperor intervened and mercifully granted Luther a day to collect his thoughts.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
On April 18, 1521, Luther again stood before the Holy Roman Emperor. Here is how Luther closed his testimony.
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason - for I believe that neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves - I consider myself convicted by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound.” And then Luther may have added these famous words, “Here I stand; I can do no other.” He concluded his testimony by saying, “God help me. Amen.”
The Diet of Worms concluded by declaring Luther to be a heretic. Luther was granted safe passage back to Wittenberg by the Emperor. But Luther remembered an earlier reformer, John Hus, who had also been granted safe passage, but was arrested and burned at the stake. Luther’s life was in the balance.
While Luther was travelling back to Wittenberg a group of knights surrounded his cart. They seized Luther and rode off into the woods. Many thought that these knights were sent by the Emperor to enforce the edict of Worms. But these knights did not belong to the Emperor. They belonged to Frederick the Wise who hid Luther in Wartburg castle.
While hiding in Wartburg castle, Luther had nothing to do. He was bored. So he decided to translate the New Testament into German, the language of the common people. The German New Testament became a huge best seller.
With great popular support for Luther, the edict of Worms became unenforceable. On March 15, 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg to guide the emerging Protestant Reformation.
Luther married a former nun, Catherine von Bora. They had six children.
The Protestant Reformation spread to surrounding countries. Luther continued to shape it through his writings. He argued that worship services should not be in Latin, but rather in a language that people could understand. And he participated in the Reformed discussions regarding what happens during communion arguing that since the risen Christ is everywhere he must be with us in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Luther continued to write until 1545 and died on February 18, 1546. But the reformation of the church continues. Let’s pray with Martin Luther.
O my heavenly Father,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
God of all comfort,
I thank you for revealing to me
your dear Son, Jesus Christ,
in whom I believe,
whom I have preached and confessed,
whom I have loved and praised.
I pray, my Lord Jesus Christ,
take my soul into your hands.
Heavenly Father,
I know that
although I will live this body
and be taken from this life,
I will live with you forever,
and that no one can pluck me
out of your hands.
God so loved the world
that he gave his only-begotten Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish,
but have eternal life.
Our God is the God of salvation,
and the Lord delivers from death.
Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth. Amen.
https://acollectionofprayers.com/tag/martin-luther/
Bibliography
“Luther on Trial, The Diet of Worms” Tabletalk Magazine, April 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment