Sermon - Reformation Day 2025 - Matthew 11:12-19

Luther Before the Diet of Worms, Anton von Werner, 1877

Be wise before this generation

1. The Reformation is about the bravery to confess the Gospel before this violent generation

2. The issue of the Reformation was Justification

3. The issues today are our own, but we must wisely be brave to confess the Gospel before this violent generation

A blessed feast of the Reformation to you, dear christians! Properly understood, this can be a phenomenal holiday, delightfully encouraging and immensely insightful for our modern era. To some Reformation Day is merely a celebration in German culture like a Luther Oktoberfest, which is fine, I love German stuff, my ancestry is mostly German, but that misses the point of this holiday. It’s fine to drink beer, wear lederhosen, and eat bratwurst and sauerkraut, in fact it’s good fun and I think it’d very pleasant if we did that kind of thing more. But Reformation Day is not just a German thing, rather it’s more broadly a Christian thing. The Reformation is about being wise before this generation. The Reformation is about the bravery to confess the Gospel before this violent generation. 

Revelation 14:6-7 has long been applied to the work that Martin Luther performed, since he is a messenger like the angel, “with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”” Regardless of what this generation says and does the angel preaches the eternal gospel, he preaches the word of the Lord which endures forever. Whether you’re rich and powerful or easily offended and carry grudges or open to hearing the Gospel or not, the eternal gospel is preached to you and to all.

This generation, that is this world that we live in, is a violent generation. Jesus explained: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 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.He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “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.’” When John the Baptist preached the word of repentance to Herod, he was beheaded. Some of the prophets in the Old Testament, men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, were all killed for preaching the same eternal word, and other prophets were violently treated even if not killed. The time of the Reformation likewise saw a great deal of bloodshed, decades of war, and particularly bloodshed performed by the Papist authorities against Lutherans and the protestants. This is a violent generation!

In the days of Luther and the Reformation, the pressing issue was justification, namely that “By Jesus’ death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts our faith for righteousness in His sight.” This was the chief issue at the time, but through this one issue many others were brought to the light as well. Issues of indulgences and purgatory, faith, baptism, both kinds in the sacrament, the authority of scripture, and the list goes on. 

So in 1517 when Luther posted the 95 theses, he was beginning a conversation by which he had hoped to resolve the issues he was seeing in his day. But by 1520, after Luther had written more and gained a following, his teachings were condemned and he was excommunicated as a heretic, punishable by death. At great risk to their own lives, others hid and protected him, continuing to preach the eternal gospel. The Lutheran teachings were made publicly official at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, when the Augsburg Confession was presented to Emperor Charles the fifth. 

The heart of the controversy at that time was justification, and Luther and other reformers were willing to die for the sake of upholding the word of God. The scripture clearly teaches that all are conceived in sin, and as we read in Romans, this means “that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” Additionally, not only are all sinful, but we cannot negate our sins by our own merits. “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight.” Thus, the Roman system of performing penance, various works of piety, in order to be forgiven is rendered false according to the clear word of God. No Christian could live a perfect life, no monks could perform more good works than what they needed to atone for their own sins.

Salvation is therefore only through Jesus Christ. “For there is no distinction: 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. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.” Through no works of our own, but only by the work of Christ in dying for us upon the cross, are we saved. By His grace, as a gift, freely are we saved. 

The blood of Jesus Christ was shed in order to pay the debt of sin that we owe against Him. His blood assuaged the wrath of God against our sins. With His blood as the purchase price, He has redeemed us from the bondage of sin and hell. We do nothing to earn this gift of God, and so we receive it all through faith. We fear, love, and trust in Him above all things, and through this faith we cling to the promises of God which are ours in Christ Jesus.

Think of justification and your salvation like a courtroom. You’re on trial for a crime you most certainly and obviously committed; you’re a sinner, and God caught you redhanded. When the time comes to declare the verdict, the Judge declares you righteous. Have you actually deserved this verdict? No! But the judge declares it, and so it is. Do you deserve God’s forgiveness and His righteousness? No! But God looks upon you and declares you righteous, because Jesus stood in your place, bearing your guilt, suffering your punishment, so that the judge looks at you and sees the works of Christ in your place. Therefore we sing: “Salvation unto us has come by God’s free grace and favor; good works cannot avert our doom, they help and save us never. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, who did for all the world atone; He is our one Redeemer.”

That was the Reformation fight 500 years ago. We give thanks to God that our fathers in the faith did not cave to this violent generation and that they preserved the truth for us today. Nevertheless, it’s important that we don’t just focus on our fathers’ bravery, pat ourselves on the back, and think that we don’t have anything to fight for today. The issues of today are our own, and we must be wise and brave to confess the Gospel before this violent generation.

This generation “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.” The world makes demands on us, deciding what is virtuous, and then demands that we exhibit that particular virtue. Their demands are constantly changing because the world hates the truth of the gospel and must see us destroyed. This world saw fasting John, and said he had a demon for fasting. Then this world saw Jesus who ate and drank, and they said he was a glutton. No matter what Christians do, no matter how many of the world’s virtues we signal, the world will despise us and change the rules.

Therefore, fill your hearts with joy today, and don’t give into fear of this violent generation. Think of it like a bunch of little children who can’t make up their mind and are bound and determined to be unhappy and throw temper tantrums. Be like Luther, John the Baptist, and the prophets of old; be the angel of Revelation 14, and proclaim the eternal gospel with a loud voice. Don’t fear this generation; don’t fear the world; don’t fear Satan and all the powers of hell. 

Why? Because, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,  though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” Though all the world shakes and trembles, the Lord is your refuge, and He will not be moved. The Word of the Lord endures forever, and therefore you who are rooted in Him shall abide forever. The violent generation can take away our every treasure in this world, but so long as we cling to Christ we shall have the victory! 

Happy Reformation Day!