Sunday, October 28, 2007
By pastor John Jorgenson
Text: John 8:31-36
“Jesus said to the Judeans who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’
“They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free?’ ’
“Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.’
“‘So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.’”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise be to God.
Jesus promises that if we continue to live in accordance with what He has taught us we will be free. Luther built on this promise when he developed the idea of a balance of Law and Gospel. Law refers to the responsibility that God requires and Gospel refers to the freedom God provides. This closely related, balanced, concept fills life with excitement, joyfulness, and a great deal of satisfaction.
Jesus taught us that God created and chose each of us to be representatives of God here on earth. That does not make us better. God’s choice means we are to live our lives as servants of God. We need not be defenders of God; God is able to do that without us. God is not an advocate of war. War is an abuse of faith. That abuse is not limited to Jews and Christians either. Religious faith is regularly being selfishly abused by people, world-wide.
Instead, we are to reach out to others, sharing the Good News of the Gospel. From my perspective sharing the Good News goes beyond carrying out door-to-door folders and doing public proclamation on street corners. That can or may be an effective beginning for some people and may be the incentive or motivation to get up and go.
However, my view of effective evangelism and outreach is a little bit less enthusiastic. I guess that comes from being Scandinavian and Lutheran. I prefer to deal with people as individuals, encouraging each one to consider the value of faith and faithfulness in terms of their personal life style. After all, God created each one of us. We are all different. We have been given very different gifts to share. It’s fun to do that.
And as John wrote: “Jesus said to the Judeans who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’
“They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free?’ ’
“Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.’
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.’”
Well now, can you think of a more appropriate thought on Reformation Sunday, than the idea that we are free, or that we have the potential of being free, if we simply accept it and be the people God created to be free. This is what The Reformation was all about. People were set free from the human restrictions of greed and power. No longer need people be victims of corporate, organizational, non-responsible behavior.
Today we are seeing this need for reformation once again as we encounter customer service that is based on such selfish, self-centered, narrow-minded, vision. The Reformation was not limited to the Medieval Church. It was also directed at everyday life and had profound and potential impact on the industrial changes that were taking place in Europe at that time. This Reformation freedom enabled industry to thrive throughout Europe. As we read the history of the Post Medieval time, we see the beginnings of an economy like this world had never known; and we today still benefit from that freedom in spite of the dot com collapse.
However, at the same time the need for another Reformation is beginning to develop. As we see and make use of the tremendous and even unimaginable accomplishments of science and technology, at the same time we see the horrific impact of selfishness and greed as the iPhones, the Internet, medical advances and other examples of change and improvement emerge.
For example, in medical treatment of angioplasty, the insertion of stents to remove blockage within blood vessels to the heart has become a very lucrative income producer for certain hospitals and clinics. Another is the creation and use of medications for children with coughs without much medical oversight. A third is the decline of quality personal care in our institutions where under paid, poorly trained individuals provide inadequate care. When questioned, the officials leading the institutions avoid personal responsibility and cite constantly increasing costs that prohibit hiring more people or providing any adequate training for workers. Even in the church we hear of congregations closing for a variety of reasons, particularly the lack of money. Seems to me that in all these cases we observe a lack of vision and the need for another Reformation.
You know what we need is for Marty to come back with Katie and remind us of the responsibility we have for spreading the Gospel of good news to every person and not just those we can con into doing that which we want done for our benefit.
What God wants done and what Jesus taught is simple and easy to understand.
A discipleship that begins with belief and builds on Jesus’ teaching:
Discipleship grows with knowledge of the truth
Discipleship results in freedom
Our small group study sessions on Mary Magdalene have certainly helped to focus on the importance of our faith as we share God’s gift of freedom. This Reformation Sunday let’s all remember to say a prayer of thank you to Katie and Martin Luther and all the other reformers who had the courage to speak up for their God given expression of faith. Amen.