Sermon - Reformation Day 2019 - Matthew 11:12-19

The Christian church must always fight for the pure truth of God’s Word. Why? Because the world will never accept it, but instead force us to give up our truth and trust in lies. Jesus said, “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’” This world is never content with the truth of God’s pure word. Jesus compares this world to whiney little children, sitting in a public place, calling out for one thing but demanding another thing, never content with what is the truth. 

This was made manifest in the world’s rejection of both John and Jesus. When John the Baptist came, he was an Essene and lived a particular ascetic lifestyle. This meant that he didn’t eat or drink regular luxurious foods, he didn’t wear fine clothes, and so the people saw him and said, “He has a demon!” When Jesus came, He wasn’t an Essene, but He lived among the ordinary people, eating their food, drinking their wine, and wearing their clothes. When the people saw Jesus, they called Him “A glutton and a drunkard!” Such is the way of the world, rejecting the prophets and killing those sent to help them. 

Jesus explains that John really was the second Elijah. “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.” Now Elijah never wrote a prophetic book of the Bible, like Jeremiah or Isaiah, but Elijah is still incredibly well known. The reason Elijah is so well known is because of his bold convictions about the Lord and against the false gods. 

Elijah stood up for the truth and he didn’t care about the feelings of the Baal prophets, but he mocked them and their false idols! One time he challenged their gods to light a fire and when their gods did nothing because their gods were nothing but idols, “at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”

Baal worship was the greatest threat to the church in Elijah’s day. If you remember the general cycle of the Israelites, they repeatedly fell into worshiping false gods, worshiping the Baals. So Elijah needed to boldly confront this enemy of the church without mincing his words. He needed to defend the truth and even go on the offensive against the lies of the devil! Elijah didn’t mince his words, but he was bold to speak the truth! He wasn’t out to make friends with the world, but to speak God’s true Word with authority. He didn’t do it out of malice against the world, but out of love to save people’s lives. Baal worship meant eternal death, lies meant death. The only way to defeat lies and save the lives of the people is to speak the truth.

Elijah loved the truth more than he loved his own life and was willing to risk everything in order to speak God’s truth. At one point, Elijah was forced to run and hide in a cave, but the Lord preserved his life. And if you remember, Elijah also never died, instead he was taken by a fiery chariot into heaven. Because Elijah never died, the Hebrew tradition was that Elijah would return. 

Jesus teaches us that Elijah did return, and that return was John the Baptist. John the Baptist, not unlike Elijah, was a man unafraid of speaking the truth against lies. He was a voice in the wilderness, crying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” When confronted with the lies of the Pharisees and Sadducees who were creating new laws and new righteousness apart from God’s word, John boldly rebuked them! “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.” In contrast to their lies John so boldly said when he saw Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

John loved the truth more than he loved his life. Just as Elijah was driven to hide in a cave, so was John arrested and placed into prison. While Elijah was carried by chariot into heaven, John was beheaded and suffered martyrdom for proclaiming the truth of the Gospel before he was taken to heaven.

Jesus Himself, our Lord and our Savior, the Messiah who has come to redeem this world unto Himself through His blood, is the greatest and boldest confessor of the Christian faith. At times, Jesus was gentle with those who needed it, but at other times, Jesus was as harsh and fierce as Elijah and John. He is the one who flipped over tables and chased money changers out of the temple with a whip. He is the one who has not come to bring peace, but a sword. He called the pharisees blind guides, blind fools, serpents, a brood of vipers, hypocrites, liars, whitewashed tombs, and children of Satan. Ultimately, it is Jesus who will be our judge on that final day, and to those on His left He will say, “Depart from you, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

This harsh, fierce, and frightful language is spoken because Jesus is the Word of God incarnate. He is the Word and He is the truth, light, and life of this whole world! Apart from Him we have no good and we live in darkness under the power of the devil. But our Lord fights for us and He is no coward! He defends the truth and He defends His sheep! He goes on the offense and crushes His enemies beneath His feet. He loves the truth and He loves us more than He loves Himself. He is the one who gives, not only His head, but His whole body over to be crucified for us. 

This is a war in which our whole world is embroiled. “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” In this battle for the truth of the Gospel, there’s no room for sissies and cowards. The Bible is filled with men and women of great valor willing to give their lives for the sake of the truth of God’s Word. We too must be counted among them, we ourselves must be bold and fierce when necessary in order to go on the offense against the lies of the devil. St. Jude “found it necessary to write appealing us to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.”

But what does the world say when we do this? How does the world react? Just like Jesus says they do, like little children changing their minds wanting one thing one moment and something different the next! The world hates this kind of bold certainty and devotion to the pure word of God. The world cries out, like little children: you’re not loving, you’re egotistical, you’re mean, you’re hateful, you’re pretentious, you’re hurting my feelings! 

But let’s get this straight. God’s Word is our great heritage, it’s a treasure and it belongs to God and He entrusts it to His church. We are but poor humble stewards of the Word of God, entrusted with its proper use and preservation among us. God’s Word, His truth, belongs to Him, not us. We are merely stewards of it. 

Now let me ask you, does love permit a steward to give away the gifts entrusted to him? Can a babysitter, entrusted with another’s children, give those children away to whomever shows up at the door and wants to pervert them, even in the slightest? Can a general, charged with defending a fortress, allow a small opening in the wall in order to let the enemy in? Of course not! We call those people thieves, kidnappers, and traitors! 

Therefore, judge for yourselves, would it be loving for us as Lutherans to stop contending for the truth entrusted to us by God and allow even the smallest lies of the devil to creep in and infiltrate the hearts and minds of men? No, not at all! It’s not our Word and our truth to do with as we please, but we are stewards of this Word and must fight for it against the lies of the world. It’s not loving towards God to let His treasured Word be perverted with lies. It’s not loving towards our neighbor to give up the truth of the pure Gospel which saves them and us and spread lies instead. The only one it loves to forsake the Word and instead make for ourselves friends and be known as peaceful people, the only person we’re loving, is ourselves.

My dearest Lutheran friends and partners in the faith, be bold and unafraid like Elijah and John to fight for the truth of God’s pure Word! In earthly matters, be the most gentle and loving souls imaginable. Treat one another with humility and meekness. But when it comes to the truth of God’s Word, fight and don’t give in! Let Christ’s Word be our motto: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me.” Therefore, let us love God and His Word more than anything else, because when we love God and His pure Word, we also love our neighbor purely and completely.

On this day of the anniversary of the Reformation, let us be bold like Martin Luther and the other reformers; let us be bold like John the Baptist against the brood of vipers; let us be bold like Elijah against the prophets of Baal; let us be bold like Christ against the sins in our hearts. 

Christ was not afraid of offending you, so He calls you to repentance for the most shameful of your sins. He makes what is hidden public and is unafraid of bringing us to our knees to beg for mercy. Christ was unafraid of suffering at the hands of sinful men and giving up His own life for the truth which sets us free and forgives us our sins. 

Christians, you have been united with Christ and His boldness is made your own. It’s only through the power of God that Elijah and John so boldly confronted the evils of their day. It’s only through the power of Christ that you can be so bold and unafraid of contending against the evils in our day. Let us stop being like the whiny children in the marketplace, always ashamed of the truth, and instead be the warriors of God who join the fierce battle for the light of the pure Gospel against the powers of darkness which assail us. Let us be the Elijahs, John the Baptists, and Martin Luthers of our day.