Reformation Sunday, October 30, 2022 —
Every year we Lutherans celebrate the Reformation of the Church that took place 500 years ago. The Festival of the Reformation has also been called the Festival of the Word. When asked how the Reformation succeeded so well, Martin Luther responded, “We just preached, taught, wrote and drank Wittenberg beer, and The Word of God took care of it all!” (“Das Wort Gottes hat alles gehandelt”).
In our Old Testament Lesson, through the prophet Jeremiah, The Lord promised that in the coming days of the New Testament Church, God would make a new covenant with a new people—a people not defined by ethnicity like the Jews of the Old Testament, but rather by faith in the One True God. The Holy Christian Church is made up of all those people of faith—people who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and have the truth planted in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. “I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No longer will each one teach his neighbor, or each one teach his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.”
In our Epistle Lesson the Apostle Paul urges Christians never to give up the total freedom of conscience that comes from knowing Jesus has done absolutely 100% of everything that needed to be done to earn us forgiveness and eternal life. False teachers had infiltrated Galatia and told people salvation is by faith plus something. Paul says that if you let anyone get away with adding “plus something” to the Gospel you will lose the entire Gospel of free and full salvation. Well, people did get away with it. That’s why we needed the Reformation and why God sent the Reformers. (Thank you, God!) It’s up to us now to hold on to the pure Gospel, the 100% Gospel: Grace alone! Faith alone! Scripture alone!
In our Gospel Jesus reminds us that if we remain in His Word, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. We’ll focus on that beautiful verse in our sermon this Sunday: “The Truth Will Set You Free.”
This Week’s Lessons:
Jeremiah 31:31–34
Galatians 5:1–6
John 8:31–36 (sermon text)
Psalm 46