Sermon - Reformation Day 2021 - Matthew 11:12-19

Saint John the Baptist in Prison Visited by Two Disciples, Giovanni di Paolo, 1460

Before we reach the joys of paradise, we must first endure the violence of reformation. Tomorrow is the feast of All Saints, and we’ll observe it next Sunday. All Saints Day is a happy, joyful, glorious, comforting day in which we rejoice with all the saints who are in heaven waiting for the resurrection! We sing those tear-jerking hymns, like For All the Saints and Behold a Host! It’s a great day! 

But before we can get to All Saints Day we have to go through Reformation Day. Skipping Reformation Day and going straight to All Saints is like sleeping 364 days and waking up on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the close of the past year and the coming of the new year; it makes for an empty celebration if you didn’t actually experience the past year with all of its ups and downs.

Don’t get me wrong, Reformation Day is joyful and celebratory! It acknowledges the victory of the eternal Gospel over sin and death, proclaimed to those who dwell on earth. But it also fully acknowledges the difficulties we face on earth. “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

This is historically observable: the Old Testament church, Israel, was regularly at war, and the prophets were often killed. John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus’ life was constantly threatened until He was crucified, all but one of the apostles were martyred. In the ensuing centuries martyrdom was common among Christians in certain places. Even into the middle ages Christians, like John Huss, who pointed out errors and corruption in the church were burned at the stake. Luther was threatened with execution and only survived because his friends hid him away. On top of all that, more Christians were martyred for the faith by communists and Muslims in the 20th century than had been martyred in all previous centuries combined.

Even today it’s difficult to be a Christian. Our Biblical beliefs as Christians are mocked by much of our culture and many in our society. There are many things pulling us away from Christianity that make it easy to lose the faith. So many things are vying for our attention, it’s easy to get distracted and fall out of the habits of practicing our faith. We may not suffer bodily harm or physical discomfort, but the eroding of our beliefs and practices is no less violent.

This generation, Jesus says: “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 generation, this world, Satan’s kingdom, hates Christians and no matter what Christians do they can’t do anything right in their eyes. If you dance, the world demands you mourn, if you mourn, the world demands you dance. If we try to appease the world, if we try to fit in and mostly look like the world, the world won’t be happy until we’ve lost our faith entirely. The destruction of our faith is violence. 

Because the kingdom of heaven suffers such violence and many have fallen away from the faith, I’m so proud of you all for being here today! In spite of Satan’s attacks against you, you’re here! The Lord has preserved you! The Lord has heard and answered the prayer that the children memorized and sang this morning: “Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word, curb those who by deceit or sword, would wrest the kingdom from Your Son, and bring to naught all He has done.”

The Lord has always kept His church steadfast in His Word. In spite of the violence this world treats us with, God abides with us and keeps us steadfast. John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus was crucified, the apostles and other Christians were martyred, all because they remained steadfast until trial. But guess what! John the Baptist will have a new and better head in the resurrection, all the apostles and martyrs will live eternally in paradise, we will join that mighty throng, all because Christ rose from the grave!

“Since Christ has full atonement made and brought to us salvation, each Christian therefore may be glad and build on this foundation. Your grace alone, dear Lord, I plead, Your death is now my life indeed, for You have paid my ransom.” Yes, dearly beloved Christians, the violent one, the Devil, tries to take you for himself by force and violence. But God has paid your ransom! “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

The devil may try to take you by force, but God has redeemed you for Himself by grace as a gift! God doesn’t take you by force, He doesn’t trick you and manipulate you into believing. He doesn’t force you into the faith. Instead He offers you salvation as a gift to be received by faith.

Likewise, since salvation has come unto us as a gift, it’s not something that we can take for ourselves by violence and force, instead it’s something we receive as a gift. Our salvation isn’t something we work for our whole lives, rather it’s a gift from God to be received by grace through faith. Indeed, all of Christianity is a gift! When Satan tries to make us his by force, when he convinces us to give up our faith or to work for our salvation, what he’s really doing is forcing the gifts away from us and taking away God’s gifts.

Baptism is a gift! Through baptism God washes away the filth of our sins and He clothes us in His righteous garment of salvation. It’s Satan’s assaults which make us delay our child’s baptism or forget about our own.

Church is a gift! Everything that goes on here at church is a gift from God to us! Church isn’t about us praising God or giving God our offerings, those happen here, but those are secondary to us receiving God’s gifts. Here God fills us with His Word which is able to keep us steadfast in faith, hope, and love. It’s Satan’s assaults which make us skip coming to church or treat church like a chore; remember, this is all a gift from God! 

The Lord’s Supper is a gift! In this holy meal God nourishes us with the body and blood of Jesus, He fills us with His holiness, and He gives us the energy to recuperate from the past week and to face the week ahead. Nowhere else in all the world does God permit you to approach and dwell with Him so closely than in communion. It’s Satan’s assaults which make us treat this supper so casually and unimportant, to the point where we don’t hunger and thirst for it each week.

God’s Word is a gift! “Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.” The Word of God creates faith in our hearts to believe in God. His Word sustains our faith and gives us wisdom to navigate this confusing world. The scriptures are a light of hope during the dark times in our lives. It’s Satan’s assaults which make us forget and ignore the Bible so that we don’t read it and meditate on it. 

All of this is a gift from God to us, in order to sustain us amidst life’s many trials and reformations. Though we must first go through the time of reformation, a time when the violent try to take us away by force, God promises to keep us steadfast through this trial. When this time of reformation comes to an end, God promises us a feast in paradise. May God bless you to remain steadfast in His Word and so be numbered among those saints, not just on some future All Saints Day, but in the book of life.