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John 8:31-36 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s
descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who
sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family,
but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be
free indeed.
Romans 3:19-28 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to
those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared
righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we
become conscious of sin. 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from
law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished– 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so
as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of
observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is
justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone
Today is Reformation Sunday. Today, we gather not just to remember
history, but to celebrate a movement of the Spirit that reshaped the church
and refocused it on Jesus Christ.
Today we remember a hammer striking a church door in Wittenberg,
Germany, over 500 years ago—not as an act of defiance, but as a call to
dialogue. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses weren’t meant to divide the Church,
but to reform it—to bring it back to the heart of the gospel: that we are
justified by grace, through faith, apart from works.
2Reformation Sunday is not just about an historical event but it is also a
living call to renewal, to truth, and to the heart of the gospel. it’s a call to the church to return to the Word of God, to be continually reformed by it, and to proclaim the gospel of grace boldly.
The Reformation was not about rebellion. It was about rediscovery. It was
about returning to the truth that had always been there in Scripture, but had gotten buried under centuries of fear, control, and misunderstanding.
The belief in the Catholic church in Luther’s time held that while God is
merciful and Christ has died for our sins each sinner has to earn salvation
through confession, repentance, prayer, self-denial and good works. They
believed that everyone had to go to Purgatory when they died to pay for
their sins before they could go to heaven. People were told they could buy forgiveness for the sins of their loved ones so they could leave Purgatory
sooner. This was called the sale of Indulgences. One popular medieval
jingle said, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul out of purgatory springs.” While this did help fund the building of some of the great
cathedrals in Europe it was never necessary. God’s grace can not be
purchased, it can not be earned. God’s grace and forgiveness is a gift from our savior, Jesus Christ.
The wonderful news of the gift of grace from Christ had been lost. Martin
Luther read the phrase “the righteousness of God” in the book of Romans
and hated it. He later wrote, “Far from loving that righteous God who
punished sinners, I actually hated him.” Martin Luther was convinced that
no matter what he did, no matter how many times he confessed his sins
there was no way that God would pardon him. Martin Luther, burdened by
his own sin and desperate to know the mercy of God, finally found peace in the pages of Scripture—especially in today’s passage fromRomans 3. Verse 28 says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” That single verse cracked the walls of legalism and opened the
door to freedom.
Paul’s words to the Romans confront us with a fundamental truth: “all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (3:23) No human effort, no lawkeeping, no religious tradition can justify us before God.
Justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Now exactly is justification? There are many theological words in
Christianity and they aren’t always easy to understand. Simply put, to justify
3is to declare righteous. Justification is an act of God whereby He declares a sinner to be righteous because of that sinner’s faith in Christ. According to
one theologian, “the root idea in justification is the declaration of God, the
righteous judge, that the person who believes in Christ, sinful though he or
she may be, is righteous—is viewed as being righteous, because in Christ
he has come into a righteous relationship with God” Jesus, through his
death on the cross won forgiveness for us all and brought those who
believe in him back into relationship with God.
The Reformation returned the Church to five core convictions. They coined
five phrases often called the “solas”: They are five Latin phrases that
summarize the foundational principles that emerged during the Protestant
Reformation, emphasizing key theological beliefs. The first word in each,
Sola is Latin for only. Each of these ideas were radical in their time. They
shifted the center of the Christian life away from institutional control and
back to the person of Jesus Christ.
Sola Scriptura. Scripture Alone: God’s Word is authoritative for our lives, and it is sufficient in guiding us. The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, and
the truth is found in the Word He authored. By the 1500s the Roman
Catholic Church had added much to scripture and it still holds that the pope is infallible. Anything a pope says becomes part of their beliefs. The
Reformation returned to the belief that scripture alone is the word of God
and nothing can be added or removed from it.
Sola Gratia – Grace Alone: We are saved not because we are good, but
because God is gracious. Grace isn’t something we earn—it’s a gift. We
are saved not by what we do, but by what God has done in Christ. We
receive that gift not by our merit, but by trusting in God’s promises.
Sola Fide – Faith Alone: We receive the gift of God’s grace through faith. Not by striving, not by climbing ladders of good deeds, but by trusting in
Jesus Christ. We are declared justified, righteous by God on the basis of
our faith alone and not by works.
Solus Christus – Christ Alone: Our salvation rests not in saints or church hierarchy, but in Christ alone—His life, His death, and His resurrection.
Soli Deo Gloria, or “to the glory of God Alone,” This reminds us that all
praise and glory belongs to God, the source of salvation, and not anything
we have done.
4These truths were not new in the 1500s. They were ancient. Biblical. But
like a treasure buried under centuries of dust, they needed to be
uncovered.
Also, they aren’t just historical ideas. They are vital today. When our world
says, “You are what you achieve,” the gospel says, “You are beloved
because God made you and redeemed you.” When people are burned out, disillusioned, or spiritually numb, the message of grace is still revolutionary.
As we heard in our reading from John this morning; Jesus says, “If you
continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
This is the truth that sets us free—not a truth we invent, but one we
receive. It is not freedom from all authority or responsibility, but a deeper
freedom: the freedom of knowing we don’t have to earn God’s love—we
already have it.
The Reformers didn’t invent this truth. They recovered it. They returned to
Paul’s letters, to the gospels, and to the early church fathers, and they saw
that the church had drifted. Human traditions had clouded the clarity of the
gospel.
But what is this truth they returned to? For Luther, it was the truth that
God’s grace is a gift, not something we earn. In his time, people were
terrified—afraid they hadn’t done enough to escape God’s wrath. The
Church had built a system that monetized that fear, if you gave enough to
the church your loved ones could get out of Purgatory sooner. And Luther,
tormented by his own conscience, found peace not through more effort, but through the Word of God.
In Romans, Paul writes: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus. It was this line in Romans that set Martin Luther free.
In 1521 Martin Luther was tried for heresy. He stood before the powerful
authorities of his time and said: “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help
me. Amen.” This wasn’t arrogance—it was conviction rooted in the gospel.
You and I are called to stand as well—not in defiance of the world, but in
faithfulness to Christ.
5Martin Luther didn’t set out to change the world. He simply wanted to speak the truth. He trusted that if he preached the Word faithfully, the Holy Spirit
would do the rest. And it did.
Reformation Sunday is not just a history lesson. It is not about going back
to Luther. The Church is not a museum to Luther’s ideas. We are the living
body of Christ. It’s about going back to Christ.
So today, let us not merely admire the Reformation. Let us live it. Let us
preach grace. Let us cling to faith. Let us open the Scriptures. Let us be
reformers—not by nailing things to doors, but by opening the doors of our
hearts, our churches, and our communities to the living Christ.
So today, we echo the cry of the Reformation—not to glorify a man or a
movement, but to lift high the name of Jesus, who saves by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone, revealed in Scripture alone, to the
glory of God alone. Amen