Romans 1:16, 17 * November 2, 2003 * Reformation * Pastor Pagels

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

For Lutherans, Reformation Day is similar to the Fourth of July. Maybe we don’t celebrate with picnics and parades, but the concept is the same. Like the Fourth of July, Reformation Day is a day to remember. We remember the founding fathers of the Lutheran Church. We remember how the Lord led them to regain the spiritual freedom we enjoy.

Reformation Day is also about recommitment. We recommit ourselves to the principles of the Reformation. We don’t talk about life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness, but we do talk about sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura (by grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone). If we celebrate this day the way it should be celebrated, Reformation Day can be a day when we are proud to call ourselves Lutherans.

But on this day, on Reformation Day 2003, it can be a challenge to be a proud Lutheran. The overwhelming majority of Lutherans in our country and around the world have forsaken the biblical teachings that Martin Luther championed. The motto of many Lutheran churches is: “Here I stand…and here…and here…and here.” To many outsiders, Lutheran is a synonym for liberal.

It’s easy to blame others for giving Lutherans a bad name, but these days it is not always easy to be a proud WELS Lutheran. Maybe you are aware that our synod is struggling with serious financial problems. Maybe you are aware that we have recalled missionaries from foreign fields. Maybe you are aware that our pastor and teacher training schools have been forced to cut back on faculty and staff.

But the buck doesn’t stop there either. Before we blame heterodox church bodies or our own church body for all of our problems, maybe we need to look in the mirror. Am I proud to call myself a Lutheran? Am I proud to call myself a Christian? Or do my thoughts and words and actions evoke every emotion inside of me except pride?

The President of our Synod has asked all WELS congregations to set aside this Reformation Sunday to remember our Lutheran heritage and recommit ourselves to our synod’s mission. That is a noble goal, but before we can do those two things we need to go back to the basics. We need to go back to the bottom line of our Christian faith. We need to answer for ourselves this question: What does the gospel mean to me?

The Bible doesn’t tell us if St. Paul ever asked himself that question, but we do know that he had an answer. He gave the answer to a group of Christians living in Rome. He spoke clearly. He spoke without hesitation. He spoke with pride. How did Paul feel about the good news that Jesus was his Savior? He said: “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”

On this Reformation Day it is good for Lutheran Christians to repeat Paul’s words with courage and conviction…

I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL

I. Let these words be your personal confession

II. Let these words be your most important mission

When Paul wrote this letter, he had not yet been to Rome. If it wasn’t one thing that delayed him, it was something else. Maybe the Roman Christians were beginning to wonder about Paul. Maybe they wondered if he was really going to come. Maybe they wondered if he really wanted to come. Maybe they began to wonder if he was afraid to come. They didn’t know Paul personally. If he was the type to be easily intimidated, there was plenty in Rome to intimidate him.

And so Paul wrote: “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (16). His absence had nothing to do with a lack of confidence in his message. The Romans had their mighty armies. The Romans had their magnificent buildings. But Paul had “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (16).

Paul was coming to Rome with a simple story: “Remember Jesus Christ,” he wrote to Timothy, “raised from the dead descended from David. This is my gospel” (II Timothy 2:8). But in that simple gospel there was a power that Rome had never experienced. The same God who allowed Rome’s mighty legions to conquer half the world delivered the Romans from greater enemies than those legions ever faced.

And this is how he did it. He sent his Son, a Son who was true God with divine power over death, a Son who was true man with human flesh and blood. The God-man Jesus lived as God expected every Roman to live, perfectly obedient to God’s will. And then he died as God demanded every Roman to die, carrying the punishment for disobedience.

It was a simple story, but in that a gospel “a righteousness from God is revealed” (17). Without any sins of his own to be punished for, Jesus could offer his life and death to the Romans. Now the Romans could be right with God, not because they were right, but because Jesus was right.

This rightness was not something a Roman could buy or battle for; this rightness was a gift that only God could give. And with this rightness, every Roman could say: “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). When these Christians came to know this gospel, each of them could say: Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, and neither am I!

How do you respond to the gospel? It may seem silly to ask a Lutheran a question like that, especially today, but I’m asking it anyway. How often do you stop and think about how much you need what the gospel gives?

We hear the gospel every Sunday. In the liturgy, in the hymns, in the lessons, in the sermon, in the prayers, we hear the good news that Jesus takes away our sins. That repetition is good. But that repetition can also become a temptation. There is such a thing as taking the good news for granted.

Do you ever hear that voice when you are in church? Do you hear Satan whispering in your ear? “So God forgives you; let’s move on. For God so loved the world…; same old, same old. So you are going to heaven; didn’t we hear that last week? Don’t we hear that every week?”

When Satan tries to whisper in your ear, don’t listen to him! Don’t ever listen to him! If the good news starts to sound like yesterday’s news, then we are headed for bad news. Without God’s good news, the news is all bad forever. If we relax our grip on the gospel, Satan will snatch it away.

And do you want to stand before God without it? Do you really want to appear before God the Righteous Judge without Jesus’ life and death? Do you want God to look instead at the life you have been leading? Do you want to take the chance that you are good enough to be let off the hook of hell?

Don’t fool yourself. Without the gospel, there is no Christ. With Christ, there is no perfect life or innocent death. Without that life and death, God remains a perfect judge who sends sinners to hell. And if we give up the gospel, God will send us there too.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel.” Make this your personal confession. Say it loudly and sing it joyfully: “God loves me dearly, grants me salvation! God loves me dearly, loves even me! Therefore, I’ll say again: God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me!”

This is what Jesus lived and died and rose again to gain. This is the gospel. This is what Paul preached, what Martin Luther proclaimed, what the Lutheran Church confesses. This is the gospel. It changes guilt to relief. It replaces fear with courage. It removes weakness and gives strength. It makes death the entrance to eternal life. This is the gospel, and God has given it to you. Cling to it. Cherish it. And say until you die: “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

“First for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (16). This was God’s plan. God sent his Son to the nation he had prepared to receive his Son. And then God used Jewish missionaries to carry the gospel to the rest of the world.

“First for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (16). This is not just a timetable, Jews first, Gentiles second. Paul wants to make it clear that this gospel is the power for the salvation of everyone, and without the gospel there is no salvation for anyone.

Paul makes the point again: “In the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last” (17). In other words, righteousness before God comes by faith and only by faith. By faith we receive righteousness from God. Without faith, we do not receive righteousness from God.

Paul makes the point again by quoting the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk: “The righteous will live by faith.” In other words, whoever is righteous before God has faith. And on the other side, whoever does not have faith is not righteous before God.

Three times Paul makes the same essential point. There is one way to God, only one way. The gospel is the most inclusive message in the world: Jesus died for everyone. But the gospel is also the most exclusive message in the world: It’s Jesus or nothing.

Does it seem odd to you that people who know and love the gospel could simply sit on it? Does it strike you as strange that someone who believes the gospel could be reluctant to share the gospel?

It would be so much easier to pretend that everything is fine. It would be so much easier to stay in our comfort zone. It would be so much easier to let our consciences rest in peace, but we need to admit that we do not always make spreading the gospel the most important thing we do.

Many of us have put off a much needed heart-to-heart talk with a son or daughter who is drifting away from God. When a discussion with friends turns to spiritual things, we get quiet and allow golden opportunities to slip by. If a checkbook register or credit card statement is a measure of a person’s priorities in life, what is really important to you? Every one of us has fallen short. Every one of us has sins to confess. And our failure to seize every opportunity to share the gospel is exactly that, a sin.

That is precisely what makes the gospel “good news.” We have a Savior who forgives sins, evens these sins. Jesus was always ready to share the gospel, and he has placed his perfect track record on our account. Jesus endured God’s punishment for our failure to share, and now God won’t punish us. This is the gospel. This is what moves us to share the gospel with others.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel!” Make that gospel your most important mission. To be able to give others what God has given us—it doesn’t get any better than that. To know the relief that sin is forgiven, to be set free from guilt, to live our lives with joyful confidence, to walk with Jesus every day, to fall asleep without nightmares of hell, to face death without fear—we have it all. And we can give it all away.

Reformation Day is a day for remembering and recommitment. We remember our Lutheran heritage and recommit ourselves to the mission of our synod. But we do more than that. Today and every day we remember Jesus Christ, the heart of the gospel. Today and every day we recommit ourselves to share the gospel in our homes, in our community and in our world. Today and every day we unite our voices with Paul and Luther and each other to say: “I am not ashamed of the gospel!” This is our personal confession. This is our most important mission. Amen.