Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation
Revelation 14:6-7 + Matthew 11:12-15
The story of the Reformation is the story of a priest who became a great preacher, a man who witnessed the corruption of the Church and was called by God to speak up about it, to call the people of his day to repentance, to point them to Jesus, to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God. He was loved by many and hated by many and persecuted for his bold preaching. And as a result of his preaching, many people turned from the error of their ways to Jesus, and, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, they were given a place in the kingdom of God.
Of course I’m talking about the man whose name was John, the Baptist, of whom Jesus once said, Among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. He was the last prophet of the Old Testament. And as such, he didn’t merely reform the Church of God. He prepared it for its transition from the Church of the Old Testament to the Church of the New. His duty was to point to Christ, and to the kingdom of heaven over which Christ rules.
What is the kingdom of heaven? It is the reign of Christ as King in the hearts of men. Not the kind of ruling that forces men to follow Him or to obey His commandments. But the kind of ruling that brings with it the forgiveness of sins, that frees a person from slavery to sin, from the power of the devil to accuse and condemn, and even from death. It’s the kind of ruling that makes a person a born-again child of God and an heir of His heavenly kingdom.
Where is it, this kingdom of heaven? It isn’t up in heaven. Instead, it has come down from heaven. It’s wherever the Gospel is preached, where the Sacraments are administered. There is the kingdom of heaven! There the Spirit of Christ calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
And what is the Gospel? It’s what John the Baptist first began to preach. God has come to the aid of sinners. God has stepped into our earthly history. He has given His Son to be born as a man, to redeem us from sin, death and the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and by His innocent suffering and death. He did it, not because we deserve it or have worked for it. But by His grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. I think that passage would be better translated, “The kingdom of heaven advances forcefully, and forceful men lay hold of it.” In the parallel passage from St. Luke’s Gospel, it puts it a little differently. “The Gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is pressing into it forcefully.”
How was the kingdom of heaven advancing forcefully? The Gospel of Christ was proclaimed in the face of much opposition. It was proclaimed precisely where men did not want it to be proclaimed, and yet it could be silenced or stopped. Herod couldn’t stop the kingdom of heaven from being proclaimed by putting John the Baptist in prison. The Pharisees couldn’t stop Jesus from proclaiming it, until He Himself was ready to bring everything to its completion on the cross. Even then, the crucifixion of Christ couldn’t stop the Gospel from being proclaimed. The apostles and the ministers of the Church went out and preached, even though they were targeted and killed, one by one. And the Christians who heard and believed their Gospel spread it to their own families and fellow citizens even as they fled from persecution to one city after another.
And how were forceful men laying hold of the kingdom of heaven? Who were these “forceful men”? They were tax collectors, prostitutes, fishermen, a Roman centurion, a Canaanite woman, a village of Samaritans. They were little children, of whom Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” All of these were laying hold of the kingdom of heaven, pressing into it forcefully. Not by being wise or good or obedient. They were all sinners deserving damnation. But in the face of great sinfulness, in the face of great opposition by the world, in the face of all the devil’s temptations and accusations, by the power of the Gospel they all dared to trust in Jesus as their Savior, as the Christ, the Son of the living God. That’s no small feat. That’s the power of the Gospel, which is the power of salvation for everyone who believes.
That Gospel of Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Savior of sinner was powerfully preached in the world for many hundreds of years after Christ’s ascension, and the kingdom of heaven continued to advance forcefully around the world as the Gospel was preached.
The kingdom of heaven always advances forcefully, and forceful men always lay hold of it. But that doesn’t mean the Gospel is always preached as clearly and as abundantly as before. There came a time when the Gospel was preached less and less, as the Roman pope became less and less Christ-centered and more and more self-centered, less and less word-of-God oriented and more and more man-oriented. It became difficult for people to hear the Gospel through all the chattering of the pope’s men about other things, as they preached less and less about Christ and more and more about indulgences, works of penance and satisfaction, paying for one’s own sins, praying to the saints, worshiping the Virgin Mary, the sacrifice of the Mass, and on and on.
We celebrate the Reformation, because God raised up men like John the Baptist, men like Martin Luther and Martin Chemnitz and countless others who, in the face of great opposition, pointed poor sinners away from all those other things and back to Jesus, back to His Word, back to His works, His merits, His grace, and His promise of salvation by faith alone. Luther was, indeed, like that angel of whom we heard in today’s Epistle, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
Since the days of the Lutheran Reformation, the Gospel has been clearly preached again in the world. But again, that doesn’t mean it’s always preached as abundantly as before. The Scriptures do not depict for us a kingdom of heaven that spreads visibly over the face of the earth, gradually taking over the planet and enveloping the world in good behavior and charitable acts, nor do they depict a large Christian Church that fills the world with pure teaching and with orthodoxy. On the contrary, pure preaching is depicted in these last days as rare, and with regard to faith, it is not depicted as a common thing, but instead Jesus asks, When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?
No, the powerful preaching of the Gospel and the forceful faith that results will not be widespread as this old earth winds down. But the kingdom of heaven must remain on this earth until Christ comes again. The Word of God remains forever, as the Scriptures declare and as the Lutheran Reformers also proclaimed. There must be a Church on earth that preaches the Gospel and that hears and believes the Gospel.
As those who have been given the treasure of the Gospel and who have been given entrance into the kingdom of heaven, let us give thanks to God for His grace in giving us this gift. And let us see to that, by God’s grace, we do not take this treasure for granted, but stand upon it as Luther once stood, powerfully proclaim it, and steadfastly believe it. Amen.
