Sermon - Misereicordias Domini 2021 - John 10:11-16

 

"Luther at the Diet of Worms" by Anton von Werner

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

A few years ago, in 2017, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. In 1517, Martin Luther had posted the 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg, which we mark as the beginning of the Reformation. But honestly, the posting of the 95 theses wasn’t that interesting nor that groundbreaking. The real excitement was yet to happen!

Posting the 95 Theses was no more than posting an academic paper on a board filled with numerous other academic papers, so no excitement there. And the 95 theses themselves weren’t even all that good, they mainly focused on the abuses of indulgences and purgatory, but otherwise weren’t really Lutheran. They did get the ball rolling, however.

Over the next few years Luther studied the scriptures more deeply and he became an actual Lutheran. No longer was it just about indulgences, but it was about the Gospel and salvation through justification by grace! Luther was now preaching, lecturing, and writing about this beautiful Gospel He had discovered in the scriptures, which Rome had hidden from the people. 

This rediscovery of the Gospel was stirring up the people! But by 1520 this was also angering the papacy. Pope Leo X published a bull, an official letter, against Luther outlining his errors. According to the bull, if Luther didn’t retract his teachings, he would be excommunicated. Excommunication in Luther’s day didn’t just mean social shunning, but it meant torture and being burned alive at the stake. So, Luther publicly burned the papal bull and a copy of Canon Law. 

All of this division among the people had another person annoyed though, the Roman Emperor Charles V. He had a war to fight against the Ottomans, and he needed his people united in order to win this war. So he held a meeting, on April 18th, 1521, in the city of Worms, in order to try and smooth over this issue, by giving Luther another chance to recant. To which Luther replied:

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason ..., I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.”

Now, we’re not called Lutherans because we worship Luther, that would be stupid since Luther is just a man. Rather, we’re Lutherans because we agree with many of Luther’s teachings. Today, 500 years after Luther said those words, let us ponder this teaching of Luther. Namely, we too are bound by the scriptures, and we stand, boldly and firmly, upon God’s plain Word.

Consider what St. Paul teaches us in Hebrews: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

We are to remain steadfast to our confession of hope without wavering, why? “For He who promised faithful.” What does He promise? “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and we are the sheep of His pasture. Here in this pasture, our Shepherd feeds us with Himself. He feeds and waters us from the altar, where we’re fed the body and blood of our Good Shepherd. Day by day, He gives us to graze upon the good grass of His Word, by which we are strengthened in our daily living. Sheep do not live by grass alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 

This Good Shepherd, He is like none other: He lays down His life for His wayward sheep. Now sheep as an animal are incredibly stupid and the one thing they’re very good at doing is dying. An ordinary shepherd will care for the sheep, but not at the expense of his own life. The sheep are stupid and die easily, you don’t die for them, that’s foolish! Well we too are foolish stupid sheep, and we’re quite adept at dying. Yet Jesus, our Good Shepherd, our God and Lord, has laid down His life for us.

Because the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for us stupid sheep, He overcomes our deaths and gives us everlasting life just as He has. Death has no more power over us, this is the great Easter hope and joy that we live our lives according to! We sheep who are easily killed have death taken away from us!

Not only does our Shepherd spare us from death, but He shepherds us throughout our lives. He knows how foolish and stupid we are, quick to wander and stray from the fold, easily lost and injured. So, He seeks the lost, brings back the strayed, binds up the injured, and strengthens the weak. Instead of always being stupid and foolish, He makes us wise with His Word! He knows that we have short attention spans and bad memories, so He never tires of telling us again and again and again of all His glorious promises.

His mercies are new every morning! His Word is like apples of gold in a setting of silver! His voice is fresh and new to our ears every day! Like a small child, we should never grow tired and bored of asking Jesus the same questions and hearing the same answers. Every day we sin and require God’s grace, and the answer is always the same, the answer is always Jesus. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

This simple, plain, Word of God always endures and comforts our troubled consciences. It makes the foolish, wise; the weak, strong; the sad, glad; the fearful, brave; and the fickle, steadfast. Because our Good Shepherd feeds us with His Word, we know that we are well defended against the ravenous wolf seeking to devour us. So long as we abide in Jesus’ Word, we shall be safe from all harm and danger, because God helps us.

This is why Martin Luther was able to stand upon God’s Word so resolutely: because he knew that God would protect Him through the Word, even if he be burned at the stake! He was willing to die for the sake of God’s Word, because death would’ve been preferable to forsaking this treasure, which his Shepherd feeds him. God’s promises are that powerful and that important! It’s worth dying over and being a martyr for the sake of God’s Word.

Now Martin Luther was a brilliant man, talented in many ways. But in regards to his faithfulness, we should all be the same. You have the same God, the same Good Shepherd who laid down His life for you, the same promises, the same scriptures, the same hope, for that reason you are called to be faithful like Luther and all the saints before and after him.

Luther had his battles to fight in his day, and we ours. Today we face growing secularism and persecution on a broad scale. Christianity is seen as hateful and oppressive by many. The vast amounts of wealth and luxury which fill our lives are choking out the faith. The false god of entertainment directs our lives away from the true God and Good Shepherd of our souls. The sexual ethic and morality of many has poisoned their minds against God. Fear, lovelessness, and faithlessness runs rampant even among the remnant which remains.

But in the midst of these many trials, you are called to be faithful Christians. You are called by God to be bold and immovable in the face of persecution. God, who is Your Good Shepherd, He gives you the strength, through His Word, to endure. The Good Shepherd doesn’t abandon His flock, so neither shall we abandon the Good Shepherd. The world may mock, ridicule, prosecute, persecute, and even sentence us to death, but Christ will lay down His life for us and so we will live.

Because our Good Shepherd knows how vulnerable we sheep are, He gathers us together into this fold of His Christian church here in this congregation. The wolf scatters us, but the Shepherd gathers us. Our congregation is a safe haven against the wolves that attack us. The brick walls of this building are a symbol that remind us that God gathers us sheep into His one flock, and He protects us by the power of His Word, against the wolves. Let me encourage you, within this congregation “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!