John 8:31-36 on October 26th, 2025
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
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It seems at church that we celebrate a lot of things that happened a long time ago, but we don't really know what they mean. And by that, I don't mean that we can't define things or we can't name dates or people or places. What I mean is we don't get the full weight of their significance for us today and how they shifted the paradigm. And today is a good example of that. Today is Reformation Sunday. Aside from being a big cheerleading day for Lutherans, not many of us know or even care what all the fuss is about. If Martin Luther sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of renovations. Okay, that's not it. A little bit of age about the Reformation can be gained in any history class. It is that big of a world changing event. But caring about it, well that's a different story. Who cares about a fat German monk nailing 95 theses to a church door in Vittenburg? I mean just that sentence right there. How many things do we just not connect with at all? And if this event, which happened just over 500 years ago, doesn't connect with us, then how would something that happened 2,000 years ago do that? There is a huge gap between what happened then and what is happening now. And to take that point just a little bit further, let's look at the gospel text for today and note all those things that don't jive with us anymore. So go ahead, look at it, look back over it, skim those six verses. What do we assume it means but are probably misinterpreting? What doesn't fit anymore? What do we have the least clue about? For starters, maybe just the phrase the Jews. I mean saying the any group of people anymore kind of makes one sound a bit bigoted or Abraham. First the name isn't all that common anymore. And second most of us kind of forget why he's so important anyway. Here's a hint, he's not the guy with the 10 commandments and he did not build an ark, but died agress. Maybe you noticed the theme of slavery in our lesson. It's certainly not something we want around. The buying and selling of another human being, treating someone like a barn animal. We do not relate, don't want to relate to that. And then there's one more theme that I don't think we quite get. It's a theme that doesn't make the same sense in our day and age as what Jesus was talking about. And that is the theme of freedom. Freedom for us is very different than what Jesus means. We live in a society that celebrates freedom. When we say freedom, we usually mean the ability to do what we want, to vote how we want, to live, how we want, spend, save, speak as we want. We are free to do what we want. And to boil it down, we talk about freedom as choice. My choice. I get to decide. I get to be independent. I get to be self-governing. If something or someone limits those choices, I am no longer free. But that kind of freedom, freedom of maximum choice, isn't the same as Christian freedom. We are free in Christ, not because we can choose, but because God chooses us. Now what I could do here is explain in minute detail the particulars of our depravity in our captivity to sin. God's righteousness and law are failure to live the sanctified life and then drop the big Lutheran line saved by grace through faith. And I would feel a little hypocritical considering I started with we don't understand or care about church things and those are all pretty churchy words. So instead, let's try to reform the message of our Christian freedom for here and now. As last week's lessons helped us realize, we all think things and do things that we aren't proud of. And because of those things, we don't live up to the level that God sets for us. As today's lesson from Romans tells us all fall short of the glory of God. And try as we might, we can't live up to God's standard of life. And our failure at doing this can cause us to worry, to fear, to feel guilty about not living up to God's expectations. And then we can either get trapped in that worry, fear, and guilt, so we're not pleasing God, becoming consumed by not being good enough or we just give up on trying all together. But God doesn't give up on us that easily. Remember God chooses us. Even though we all have those actions, thoughts and shortcomings, we are all recipients of God's love, forgiveness, and grace as a gift. No matter what. Again, as Romans tells us, we get this love and grace apart from works of the law, which translated means we can't do anything to earn it. The bottom line is God loves us more than we know. And God's love is bigger than anything that keeps us away. God's love is stronger than our worst actions mightier than our least desirable thoughts and well above our shortest of shortcomings. God's love for us in Jesus Christ is our freedom from worry and fear of not being good enough. God's love for us lifts us out of our insecurities and places us firmly and squarely in God's household. And nothing we do, don't do, are able to do or fail to do, will change that. And in that is real freedom. In Christ we are free to be, free to do, free to risk and live and try without fear of screwing up our relationship with God. We are free from fretting because we know that no matter what God is for us, no second guessing, no agonizing, no panic, we are free. Free from the hold of sin, free from death, free from the devil, free from hell, free from having to do, free from insurmountable standards because God gives us that freedom in Jesus Christ. We are free from all that keeps us from God and maybe more importantly we are free from our own fears, worries, insecurities about God. We are free to be because we are freely loved. But here's the thing about God's freedom. It doesn't just set us free from things. It sets us free for things. God sets us free for new life. Not so we can keep going back to those things that had us trapped in the first place, but so we can point to the freedom that we have in Christ and show others that they have that freedom too. God sets us free so that we can reform our lives, our communities, our church, our world. And we get to do this now, not because we have to, but because we trust that God's way is the best possible way. That the way that Jesus lived is the way things are supposed to be. Jesus lived the best way and we get to follow Him. We follow His life, not for brownie points, but because we do think that the hungry should be fed. We live out His life because we do think that that community is important. We walk in His ways because we are thankful for what we've been given. We do what Jesus does because we trust that God has taken care of us no matter what happens. And we need others to hear that message too. Life as a Christian is less about the half-tos and more about the get-tos. But that isn't a new idea. There actually was this fat German monk who about 500 years ago nailed his 95 theses to the church door. And before that there was this Jewish teacher who went around proclaiming God's love to him for everyone and he showed that love everywhere he went even when his life depended on it. So I guess that message has been around for a while and just a little bit of reformation was needed. God's love was active back then just as it is now. And God was calling them to the same free, grace-filled life as we are. We may not understand everything that happened 500 years ago or 2000 years ago but I hope you understand this. God's love frees you. God's grace reforms you and God's spirit still calls you to new life today and forever. Amen.