What is a Lutheran? – Grace Alone at Epiphany on October
14, 2007
Amazing grace, boundless mercy and prevailing peace
are yours through God the Father, for the sake of his Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
not by works, so that no one can boast.
What is a Lutheran? Saved by Grace Alone
1. Grace that is undeserved
2. Grace that is complete
3. Grace that is certain
This morning we are answering the question, “What is a Lutheran?” Well, you might
be a Lutheran if you go up to a visitor in church and say, "Excuse me, but you're
sitting in my pew". You might be a Lutheran if during the entire service you hold
your hymnal open but never look down at it. Or you might be a Lutheran if you hear
something really funny and smile as loudly as you can.
Although those statements may be true, what really makes us Lutherans is that we
believe and confess that we are saved by faith in Christ alone, by grace alone,
and we learn of this in Scripture alone. These three statements are the cornerstone
of our Christian Lutheran faith.
This morning we focus on the fact that we are Lutherans because we believe we are
saved by grace alone. Grace that is undeserved, complete, and certain.
1. Grace that is undeserved
A pastor was called to see a man dying of a terrible disease. In his youth the man
had received a good Christian training through his church and Christian elementary
school, but later he had turned his back on the church. He had divorced his wife
to move in with another woman. He had pretty much abandoned his children, become
addicted to alcohol and had even served some jail time. His story, though, is the
story of the prodigal son. Poverty and disgusting disease brought him low. In his
misery he thought of “his Father’s house.” The pastor shared with him the words
of our merciful God, which are able to save every repentant sinner for eternity.
The man accepted the pardoning hand of God extended in the Word and fell asleep
in Christ. His situation was well known in the community in which he lived.
One of the prominent members of the church met the pastor shortly before the funeral
and said to him, “Pastor, you aren’t going to bury the good-for-nothing scoundrel,
are you?” The pastor replied, “Do you mean John Smith (referring to the man who
had died)? Certainly I’m going to bury him.” To which the “good church member” countered,
“Well, if this man went to heaven, I don’t want to go there.”
The pastor answered, “Don’t worry, Mr. Goodman, you’re not going there.” “What!”
said the good church member, “This miserable wretch is supposedly going to heaven,
an I’m not going there?” The pastor replied, “Not if you really believe what you
just said. Remember, brother, the Bible says that we are all sinners. We are worthless
in God’s eyes. None of us are deserving of salvation. It is written, ‘there is no
one righteous, not even one. All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one."
This story represents the beauty of God’s grace. God’s grace is undeserved. Not
one of us deserves heaven, no matter how good we think we are. It isn’t only the
worst criminals and outcasts of society, who are going to hell. All of us are sinners,
lawbreakers. God demands perfection and we aren’t perfect parents, children, employees,
students, members, Christians. All of us deserve to feel God’s eternal wrath and
punishment in hell. But through faith in Jesus as our Savior, that isn’t what we
get. Instead of hell, we receive heaven. We are given life instead of death. Instead
of receiving God’s deserved anger and punishment, we receive God’s undeserved grace
and love.
Think of it this way. Remember in Star Wars how Darth Vader fought off all of Luke
Skywalker’s attempts to bring him back to the good side? Vader thought he was too
far gone down the path of the Dark side.
Perhaps you have felt that your sins are too great for God to ever love and accept
you. Perhaps you know someone who feels that he or she is too far gone to ever experience
God’s love. Whether it is your addiction, your pregnancy out of wedlock, your marital
affair, your anger, your gossip, or whatever grievous sins you have in your past
or present, remember that the Bible says, “Where sin increased, grace increased
all the more.” In other words, God’s forgiveness is greater than your greatest sin.
God’s grace is greater than the Dark side. Christ is greater than Satan. God’s mercy
is greater than your guilt. God loves you. He doesn’t hold your sin against you.
Or think of it this way. In a “Dennis the Menace” comic strip, Dennis is walking
away from the
Ever wonder why God should like you? No matter what you’ve done in the past; no
matter what disgrace you have brought to your name; no matter what hurt you have
caused your family; there’s something the Bible wants you to know about God. It
says in Psalm 103, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according
to our iniquities.” God’s grace to you and to me is undeserved — he gives us forgiveness
just because he’s nice.
2. Grace that is complete
God’s grace is undeserved. It is also complete. I have heard some people comment
that “all you hear about in the Lutheran church is sin, sin and more sin.” I think
the people who make those statements would rather be flattered then told the truth.
But when it’s a matter of life and death, flattery doesn’t go far does it? You wouldn’t
appreciate it if your doctor tried to make you forget your fever by telling you
that your red cheeks improved your natural beauty. No, you’d tell him, “I’m paying
you to cure me, not to flatter me.” Well, Lutheran pastors are commanded by God
to tell people the truth, no matter how painful it is, and not to flatter, no matter
how easy that is.
The truth is: we are all sick – sick with sin. It is all over your bodies. It is
inside your hearts. It is even deep within your soul. And no amount of medication,
eating a healthy diet, or exercise is going to get rid of this sickness. It is a
universal sickness. It affects every single one of us, and it kills! You can see
its effects in our daily lives – anger, hatred, depression, indecent thoughts, laziness,
discrimination, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, death. But these are only symptoms
of the disease. The universal disease that we all suffer from is sin.
But here is the universal remedy – the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, that purifies
us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) He purifies us – he makes us clean, pure, and holy
in God’s sight. In God’s eyes, as believers, we are cured of our sin disease. God
doesn’t look upon us as sinners, but as saints.
When a cancer patient goes in for surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, the doctor
and patient hope all the cancer is removed, that nothing is left of the tumor inside
the body. Well, we don’t need to worry about that when it comes to our sin. Jesus
purifies us from all sin. God hasn’t overlooked a single sinner or a single
sin, but he made a full and complete payment through the suffering and death of
his own Son. A shot in the arm may be what is needed to protect us from the flu
bug and radiation and surgery may cure us from cancer, but it is the blood of Jesus
that purifies all of us from all our sin. God’s grace is complete. There is nothing
more that needs to be done. Jesus did it all for us.
However, the medieval church and its spiritual ancestors believe and teach the opposite.
They believe that we must contribute to our salvation with good works and penance.
The Holy Spirit led Martin Luther and Lutherans to see that the Bible teaches that
if we try to contribute to our salvation, in any way, we lose it. “For it
is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.”
God’s grace provided everything necessary for our salvation. Jesus kept the law
perfectly in our place. He suffered all the punishment that our sins deserved. He
took away our every sin. When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.” he was
declaring that he had accomplished everything. The Bible teaches and Lutherans believe
that there is nothing left for us to do. There is nothing we can do to contribute
to our salvation in any way. God’s grace is complete in Christ.
3. Grace that is certain
God’s grace is also certain. A family was awakened by their smoke detector in the
middle of the night to discover that their house was on fire. The father ran into
his children’s upstairs bedroom and carried his eighteen-month-old baby in his arms
while dragging his four-year-old son by the hand. They were halfway down the stairs
when the little boy remembered that he had left his teddy bear in the bedroom, so
he broke free from his father’s hand and ran back to the bedroom to retrieve it.
In the commotion and confusion, the father didn’t notice that his son wasn’t with
him until he got outside. By now the little boy was trapped by the flames and smoke
in his second-story bedroom. Smoke swirled around him and he coughed and cried from
the upstairs window, “Daddy, Daddy! Help me!” His father yelled from below, “Jump
out of the window, Andy! I’ll catch you!”
In the darkness and smoke, the little boy yelled back, “But Daddy, I can’t see you!”
Dad shouted back, “That’s okay, son. I can see you! Jump!”
There is a true saying that goes, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I do
know who holds the future.” Do you worry about the future? Are you afraid of what
you can’t see? Does it seem dark and smoky? None of us can see what lies ahead,
but God tells us to trust him and “jump!”
Christianity is not a religion of doubt or uncertainty. God doesn’t want us to be
“in the dark and smoke” about our soul’s salvation. He doesn’t want us to be unsure
of his love for us.
Our salvation is certain, not because of anything we have done or might do, but
because God has done everything for us. We can be sure of God’s grace and love for
us, not because we feel loved or feel saved, as some Reformed Christians teach.
We are not saved based on our decision or our acceptance of Christ. As Lutherans,
we know we are saved by Christ’s decision to go to the cross. We are saved by his
acceptance of the unacceptable.
Our salvation is a trust that God is telling the truth when he says, “Whoever
believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” (2 Corinthians
1:20) Believe these promises. Trust them. Count on them because they are the promises
of God, who “in Christ” has been and still is the fulfiller of every promise.
We don’t need evidences of God’s grace by enjoying good health or wealth or success.
We have all the evidence we need in the fact that God sacrificed his Son for our
sins. Our salvation is sure even when we don’t feel saved or loved, or when our
whole life seems to be crashing down around us. Our certainty rests on the objective
truth of God’s Word, not on subjective feelings. Whether you believe it or not,
God has promised that he is there to catch you. God’s grace is certain.
So what is a Lutheran? You might be a Lutheran if you have your wedding reception
in the fellowship hall and feel guilty about not staying to help clean up. You might
be a Lutheran if you frequently call the Christian radio station requesting to hear
"A Mighty Fortress." Or you might definitely be a Lutheran if you attend Halloween
parties dressed as your favorite Reformer.
But you are truly a Lutheran Christian when you understand, cherish, and appreciate
the grace shown to in Christ Jesus. It is grace that is undeserved. Grace that is
complete. And grace that is certain. It is grace that has brought you here this
morning. And it is grace that will lead you home to heaven. Thank and praise God
for his amazing grace. Amen.