MATTHEW 11:12-15 Today we celebrate the Festival of the Reformation of the Christian Church.

When we think of the Reformation, the first thing we think of is boldness. God gave Luther and the other reformers great courage. It's difficult for us to grasp the courage that Luther and the reformers needed, and showed. We live in a country where freedom of religion is guaranteed by our Constitution. In America, no one will throw you into prison or kill you for your religious beliefs. But at the time of Luther, there was no such thing as freedom of religion. There was no separation between church and state. If you didn't belong to the church which your ruler embraced, you were in grave danger. In 1521, the pope excommunicated Doctor Martin Luther as a heretic. The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, also declared Luther an outlaw. That meant that anyone who found him could put him to death at will. Only the protection of the Elector of Saxony spared Luther's life. Through his Word, God gave Luther the boldness he needed to carry out the Reformation. Jesus speaks about that boldness in our text. John the Baptist was a forceful man. John the Baptist went to King Herod, who had stolen away his brother Philip's wife. John the Baptist fearlessly proclaimed, It is not lawful for you to have her. John's reward for his faithfulness to God's Word was imprisonment and death. Faithful confessors of God's Word have always faced imprisonment and death. Luther died a natural death, but several of the confessors died as martyrs. Heinrich Voes and Johann Esch, two Belgian monks who embraced Luther's Bible doctrine, were executed in the marketplace in Brussels on July 1, 1523. Luther wrote a hymn about their martyrdom, called, A New Song Now Shall Be Begun. William Tyndale, an English friend and associate of Luther, was betrayed by a man who posed as his friend, and was executed on October 6, 1536. Robert Barnes, another English reformer who had traveled to Wittenberg to meet Luther, was burned at the stake on July 30, 1540. Luther himself fully expected to give his life for his doctrine. In a way, he did. His heart was weakened by years of self-torture during his years in the monastery. Luther died of a heart attack on February 18, 1546. He had gone on a strenuous trip back to his hometown of Eisleben to settle a dispute between two brothers. Jesus tells the crowds, If you are willing to accept it, [John the Baptist] is the Elijah who was to come. The Jews at the time of Jesus expected Elijah to announce the coming of the Messiah by actually flying down to earth in the fiery chariot that had taken him to heaven. They based this on a misunderstanding of God's prophecy through Malachi: See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. Jesus explains the meaning of that prophecy: God gave John the Baptist the spirit and power of Elijah. Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, stood up to wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He stood up to the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel. He called the nation of Israel to repent of its idolatry and turn back to the true God. John the Baptist was a new Elijah. He called the people to repent of their sins, and to trust in Jesus, the One coming after him, for forgiveness. God gave Doctor Martin Luther the spirit and power of Elijah. The issue of repentance and forgiveness was really what fueled the Reformation. God gave Luther a conscience that was keenly aware of his sin. In his autobiographical hymn, Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice, Luther writes: Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay, death brooded darkly o'er me. Sin was my torment night and day. In sin my mother bore me. My fears increased till sheer despair left naught but death to be my share, the pangs of hell I suffered.

Sin was serious business so serious that Luther knew forgiveness of sins couldn't be bought with money. God is righteous and holy. God is serious about his judgment on sin. So serious, that only the suffering and death of God's one and only Son on the cross could atone for it. Luther studied the Scriptures. And there he learned that the righteousness of God spoken of by the Apostle Paul in Romans is a righteousness that Jesus gives us as a gift through faith. Jesus' blood covers all our sins, and gives us complete forgiveness, bought and paid for by Jesus' merits. This was how Luther's conscience could finally be at peace. For nearly 30 years, Luther devoted his life to spreading that message of sin and grace, Law and Gospel, to the world. He translated the Bible into the German language, producing a translation that is still hailed as a masterpiece nearly five centuries later. He wrote hymns to help the people sing the truths of God's Word into their hearts and into their homes. He wrote two catechisms so that the children could learn the basic teachings of the Bible. He wrote to the Christian princes of Germany, urging them to establish and maintain Christian schools. Luther was one of the first men in history to promote universal education for everyone. And the purpose of the schools was to teach people to read, so they could read the Bible. Jesus says, The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold on it. God will not permit the preaching of the Gospel to be stopped by any power of human beings. He defended his Church in the days of the persecutions. He defended his Church in the days of the Reformation. He defends his Church still today, in a time of heresy and indifference. The Gospel has also made us forceful. On the day of our confirmation, we took a forceful vow. We swore before God that we would continue steadfast in the confession of Luther's Small Catechism, and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it. That's a forceful promise. God has given us the boldness to keep to that promise. He makes us forceful when he slays our flesh, which would cling to our money like misers, and instead he moves us by the Gospel to trust his promises to care for us and preserve our lives. We show forceful faith in God's promises when we bring offerings out of our substance for the proclamation of the Gospel. We show forceful faith when we maintain Christian schools, where God's Word is taught among us. We show forceful faith when we believe the absolution, spoken by Christ through the mouth of his minister, in no wise doubting, but firmly believing, that our sins are thus forgiven before God in heaven. We show forceful faith when we come to the Lord's Supper, trusting Jesus' words of institution, that here is his body and his blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. Yes, when we think of the Reformation, we think of bold and fearless confession. Only God through the Gospel gives that boldness and lack of fear. God has given that forceful faith to us. We, too, through faith in Jesus sing: Though devils all the world should fill, All eager to devour us, We tremble not, we fear no ill; They shall not overpower us. This world's prince may still Scowl fierce as he will. He can harm us none; He's judged, the deed is done. One little word can fell him.

The Word they still shall let remain Nor any thanks have for it. He's by our side upon the plain With his good gifts and Spirit. And take they our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife, Let these all be gone. They yet have nothing won. The Kingdom ours remaineth.