REFORMATION SERMON: The Power of God

It was a cold day in 1521. A young German monk walked the cold stone halls of the palace. He waded through the spiteful glances of those in attendance. He planted his feet and lifted his head to look into the face of the Holy Roman Emperor.

“Martin, you are accused of heresy. You teach that salvation come to people by God’s grace alone. You have written against the practices of our church body. You claim that good works do not save. You tell people to stop buying the indulgences we sell for the forgiveness of sins. You are calling for a reform of our traditions. Is this true?”

Martin slowly nodded his head.

The Emperor continued, “Give it up! Burn everything you've written. Denounce it. Ask for forgiveness and we won't destroy you.”

Silence. Tension. Sweat.

Martin’s eyes blinked.  The dry lines of his mouth opened. He spoke:  "My conscience is bound to the Word of God. It is neither wise nor safe to go against conscience. I cannot and will not recant. So help me God. Amen."

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Does that sound like a scary situation? Standing before armed guards and holy looking gentlemen and being threatened with excommunication—even death if you don’t change your opinion.

Luther didn’t even flinch.

How is that possible? He must have had some kind of special power. Perhaps he was just being a stubborn German. Maybe, God gave him the special gift of feistiness! It’s also possible that Luther had a secret supply of thick German beer that gave him the guts to speak against heresy. Kind of like Popeye's spinach, only not as healthy.

But Luther himself would vouch that the power that gave him confidence to stand before his accusers at the Diet of Worms and refuse to recant his teachings was the same power that gave him confidence to stand before the Almighty, sin hating God, and refuse to recant his position: “Let me into heaven! I am righteous.”  

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What was this power of God?

The apostle Paul wrote similarly when he was jailed for his teachings. In Romans 1:16 he said,  "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." This concept was huge, because at the time Paul wrote it, people had an entirely different perspective of what power was.

Jewish Thought. Jewish thought was that their power for pleasing God came with being a Jew. Somehow, within their genealogical structure, they had little superhuman like powers that enabled them to make themselves acceptable to God. That enabled them to make themselves righteous.

So they practiced this superpower by living differently. They didn't eat shellfish like lesser men. They didn't touch dead animals. They washed their hands more than the preschoolers at Precious Lambs do!

In other words, they thought that the power of God was found within themselves.

Catholic Thought. At Luther's time, it wasn't all that different. The church taught that those who immersed themselves in the traditions of the church would find themselves doing powerful things. Buying pieces of paper to support the building of a new church. Rotely and mindlessly saying the Lord's prayer. Sitting quietly and still through worship services that no one understood.  Never getting married. Taking a vow of silence. These were ways that people could practice the power of God that was naturally in them. These were the way they could become righteous.

In other words, they thought that the power of God was found within themselves.

Secular Thought. Nowawadays? We're more casual with our theology. We're chillax. We don't hold God to such high levels of perfection. Certainly, he won't care if we aren't perfect. What matters most is intention. What matters most is trying to do good:

I met a man the other day who professed to be a Catcholic, but not a practicing Catholic. He told me that he didn't go to church, he loved getting drunk, and he was living together with a woman who wasn't his wife. Then, he asked what I did.

You should have seen the look in his eyes. He proceeded to explain away his failures . "I don’t go to church, but I am spiritual. I say prayers. I never drink and drive! I love this woman—ok, maybe, I like her a lot and that’s all that matters!"

Ah, yes -- as if his good intentions were going to make up for outright rebellion against God. Just like the murderer who says to the judge: “I only killed him because he made me angry. I didn’t want to keep on being angry my whole life. That’s not fair to the people I work and live with!” Notice the sarcasm.

Brothers and sisters, I share this with you not to put that gentleman down or make myself look good. I have thought the same way. In fact, that’s why I am sharing this. The attitude is all too common. We get this foolish idea that we can sin against God and it won't matter as long as our intention to do good (at least our version of good).

At least the Jews at the time of Paul and the Catholic church at the time of Luther understood how serious their sins were. They understood them to be so bad that they developed special acts for them to do in order to try and undo sin. We tend to think that sin is such a small deal that a few good intentions will make them disappear.

In the end, isn’t this the same problem that Paul and Martin Luther were dealing with? It’s a lesser version of it, but it’s the same thought: the power of God is found within us.

But is that really the power found within us? Can intentions or good works save? Do humans truly have the power to save themselves? Do humans have the power to be “righteous” or “holy” before God?

God’s Thoughts on Our Power.

Let's listen to what God the Holy Spirit, God himself, revealed to Paul about human beings. In Romans 1: (People) have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.” They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

For some reason that doesn’t sound like power for righteousness, salvation, or anything good! Note carefully God’s Words: He says we only have the power to do wrong. To hurt. To harm. To do evil.

You might be thinking: “Evil? Really? That’s a strong word. Couldn’t we call it mistakes? Or ooopsies? I don’t like this evil word?”

While we’re at it, we can go ahead and tell cancer patients that they only have a cold. That’ll stop the tumor, right? (Again, note the sarcasm.)

I get it though. This is a difficult truth. No one likes to hear bad things about themselves. God’s message here:  All people are evil. That’s tougher to swallow.  For the terrorist or serial killer, we say, sure. Evil. Move on.

But what about the little old lady who never hurts a fly. She walks her Cocker spaniel every morning. She keeps her rose bushes trimmed pristine. She always remembers your birthday. Certainly, God can't label her evil?

In Romans There is no one righteous.

Wow.

I think the difficulty is in our perception. We are a bunch of sinners trying to define good. In our eyes, people who do outwardly good actions look good. Especially the elderly lady next door. We think, “She better be classified as good, otherwise, what chance do I have!?!”

How can someone who’s sinful properly label something as good? That’s like asking the homeless guy who hasn't eaten in days if the bowl of Ramen was good. He'll say: “Delicious! He's used to eating from the bottom of a trash barrel.” The five star chef will have an entirely different opinion.

God alone determines what is good. He alone determines what is powerful for salvation . And he has determined that all of us are not.

What Is Power of God?

With Paul, it wasn’t himself and his actions. He called himself the “Chief of Sinners.” Same thing with Luther. He didn’t stand confidently because he was without sin! In reality, he had spent years before them cowering in a dark monastery because of his sin.

Paul and Luther understood then that the power of God was not within themselves. It was from God. Romans 1:16 reveals exactly what this power of God is: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."

The Gospel. The good news. The message of Jesus: He lived perfectly. He died innocently. He rose triumphantly.

How powerful is this message? Here are five powerful things that it does:

1)    It Brings Salvation

 That’s exactly what the verse says: “The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes!” In other words, it bring about salvation—a saving from evil! From ourselves.  

It’s similar to a doctor's prescription. You need those words written down to tell you what medicine to get. It describes the proper substance that will fight against the danger in your body. It tells the Pharmacist what to give you. It tells you what you need to be saved!

The Gospel tells us about the cure for us. It tells us what saves from sin, death, and the devil. Or rather—it tells us who saves from sin, death , and the devil.  

Our Savior is the LORD. The God of all eternity. The God who sitting on his Divine Throne outside the temporal, heard your call for help. From eternity, he came charging down to this earth in order to save you. He absorbed your evil sin and all the awful punishment that it deserves. He powerfully defeated the sin we could not defeat. He powerfully defeated the devil we could not defeat. He even defeat the impossible to defeat death that we could not defeat.

The Gospel then is the message that tells us what Jesus did. It is the message that saves us!

2) The Gospel Declares Us Righteous

How? Look at what Paul wrote, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.”
 
Righteousness! That’s the scary word that reminds us we are evil in God’s eyes. How is it that this could be our power?  

Ever drive your car to the East just as the sun is rising? You might need to put the blinders down and put on a pair of shades. You know you're looking at the road, but it looks like you're driving right into the sun. It's all you can see!

Talk about power! The Gospel light is so powerfully blinding that Our Holy Father does not see our sinfulness. Instead, he squints his eyes in the righteous light of Jesus’ life. Jesus shines so brightly that God cannot see anything but our His perfection. He smiles and speaks: “Guiltless! This person is not guilty of any sin. They are righteous!”

3) The Gospel is for everyone!  

Again, read what Paul wrote, “The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. “ Not just Jews. Not just 'church people.” Not just people who have enough money to get their name on one of the little bricks that says: “I helped build this community center.”

The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

That means it's for the the middle class Northern family. The upper class Southern gentleman. The single mom who works three waitressing jobs. The immigrant who's struggling to learn English. The college student who's far away from home. The widow who misses her husband. The man who's spent time in an earthly jail. The woman who's spent hours with therapists.

The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

This means it's for you. The Gospel is God's power to save you!

4)  The Gospel doesn’t need your Help!

Did you see the phrase? It is by faith from first to last! First to last.

This isn't like buying a cake mix where some of it has been done for you, but you still need to separate the eggs; mix it all together and bake it for it to work.

The Gospel doesn't require that you first achieve perfection. Or that you add special church traditions. Or that you do anything, anything at all in order to finish the product of salvation!

It is by faith from first to last!

Faith isn’t any kind of doing. It’s believing. Trusting that this message from God is the truth. And it has to be! Because the power of God is the Gospel. It's Jesus. It's not us. We can't make Jesus any more powerful do we need to mix in some of our own ‘good’ in order to complete the product.

Salvation is a finished product. It’s ours by faith.

5) The Gospel Gives Life.

It's how verse 17 ends: “The righteous will live by faith.”

My car battery died the other day. No matter how hard I turned the key (and sometimes I turned it pretty hard), the car would not start. It needed a jump from an outside source. One another car was hooked up to it, the car came roaring back to life.

This is the power of the Gospel. When it connects in a quiet collision with human hearts, it brings these sinful, dead hearts roaring back to life. No longer are they dead in their sins, but they are alive in Christ!

Jesus also doesn’t run out of Jesus. It’s a power that last forever. It is a power that lasts beyond a lifetime. It brings us past earthly death, into the marvelous sanctity of an endless life in heaven. A place apart from the terrors of guilt and shame. A place surrounded by the love of our Savior.

The Gospel is Still Powerful!!!

Back when Paul wrote these words, identifying the power of God, do you realize that in fact he was writing the power of God? Within his Gospel message, nothing more than the scratching of ink onto parchment, he brought the Gospel to the people. He brought the power of God to the people. Hearts changed. A Reformation happened.

Luther did the same. Only instead of parchment, he used the moveable type of the Gutenberg printing press. Ink dried. Pamphlets were handed out. The power of God was brought to the people. Hearts changed. A Reformation happened.

The Gospel still brings us the power of God. The cracking of radio waves in the area. The humming of the TV tube. The clacking of fingers typing. The dial tone of the modem. The gentle words of a Psalmist sung through headphones as you listen to your iTunes!

Brothers and sisters, we have the power of God! It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not be ashamed.  Stand before those friends who mock and ridicule you, not ashamed, because of God’s power.

And stand before God. Not ashamed of sin, but confident in Jesus’ power. With faith in Jesus, speak confidently, “I am saved by God’s grace through faith.” Amen.