Isaiah 55:6-9 * Reformation 2002 *
Pastor Leyrer
Dear Friends in Christ,
For Lutherans, Reformation Sunday calls to mind a very identifiable set of visual images and historical facts. And whether we’re life-long Lutherans hearing them for the hundredth time or new Lutherans hearing them for the first time (or visitors who don’t even really know who Martin Luther is), these events are a stirring part of Lutheran heritage…
We think, for example, of Martin Luther’s emerging
understanding of the good news of salvation.
After many painful years of being incarcerated by the idea that going to
heaven depended upon his own performance, Luther came to realize that salvation
is a free gift of God’s grace given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
trust in Him as Savior. This truth,
gleaned from his study of the Book of Romans, was nothing less than complete spiritual
liberation. In describing this moment in
his life, Luther later declared “it was
as if the gates of heaven had been opened up to me.”
We remember Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses to the
We recall Luther’s courageous defense of the Bible at the
Assembly (Diet) that convened in the German city of
Those moments in the life of Martin Luther are indeed memorable and worthy of hearing again and again. But Reformation Sunday is not about lionizing a man. Rather, it’s about rejoicing in what the Lord used this man to restore. And that is the Gospel message. The Gospel message is what the Reformation is all about.
There is a word that was sometimes applied to Luther and the Reformers, but is really a more fitting description for the Gospel message itself. The word is radical. On this Reformation Sunday and on the basis of our text as well as other portions of Scripture, let’s spend the next several minutes considering and contemplating
THE RADICAL NATURE OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE
1. Radical in what it is
2. Radical in its effect upon us
What do we mean by the word radical? Actually, it can be understood a couple of different ways…
The word itself comes from the Latin term radix and means “root.” You might recall that in mathematics a check mark with a line extending from its top is called a “radical sign.” It has to do with getting the square root of a number. And the square root of a number is its source or foundation. So the word “radical” in its most basic sense has to do with going to the root or source or foundation of something.
This meaning applies to the Gospel message, because the
Gospel message is the root or source or foundation of God’s Word.
Last week for our Festival of Friendship Pastor Pagels used as the text
for his sermon the familiar words of John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Philosophy professors will sometimes
say that all of western thought is but a footnote to Plato. In the same way, we could say that all the
rest of the Bible is really but a footnote to John 3:16.
What we mean is this:
the Gospel message contained in that passage is the foundation of
Scripture. Boil everything in the Bible
down to one verse, and John
And the simple message of the Gospel is this: God loves us.
In fact, He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to be our Savior. Though our sins were like “scarlet,”
we now stand “white as snow” in the eyes of God. Why?
Because salvation does not depend upon what we do for God, but on what
God has done for us in the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus
Christ. Trusting in Jesus means we are
redeemed, restored, forgiven and heirs of everlasting life. In the words of the Apostle Paul, the Gospel
means our lives may be lived out here on earth, but our citizenship is in
heaven.
At the time of the Reformation Lutheran Christians were asked to put down in writing just exactly what they believed and taught over-against the prevailing Roman church of the day. We call that body of writing the Lutheran Confessions. And the writers of the confessions speak of the radical nature of the Gospel when they said that this doctrine – justification by faith – is the teaching on which the church either stands or falls. In other words, the Gospel message is foundation of Scripture and the foundation of our faith.
So in that sense, the Gospel is radical. It’s also radical in another sense.
Today – or better yet, 30 or so years ago – if you heard someone referred to as being a “radical,” what comes to mind? You probably think of someone who doesn’t conform to what others are doing or who takes an extremely opposite point of view to what others think. In the same way, when someone comes up with an idea that is so far out that no one has ever considered it, we might say, “that’s pretty radical.”
That sense of the word also applies to the Gospel message. Because the Gospel message is something that we would never come up with. It’s not what we expect. Placed aside conventional thought, it’s extreme. This is where our text from Isaiah fits in…
In the opening verses we hear God inviting people to enter
into a saving relationship with Him. He
longs to have them live with Him forever in heaven. He has promised them a Savior from their sin,
beautifully described in chapter 53 as the One who will live and die as the
substitute for mankind, and now He issues this wonderful invitation: “Seek
the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil
man his thoughts. Let him turn to the
Lord [believe/trust/have faith], and
he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”
This is an invitation of pure grace. There are no strings attached. God doesn’t say do this and this and that and then maybe I’ll consider pardoning you. God doesn’t say if you work real hard and die on one of My good days then maybe you’ve got a chance at heaven. No. He says “turn to Me.” In other words, trust in Me and the Savior I have promised, and I will freely give you salvation…
And we can almost hear the people say (because we hear
people still say it today), “Is that
it? Is this a trick question, God? You mean, all that is necessary for salvation
is trusting in you? No works? No keeping so many commands? No living a good life? Have you forgotten, God, that there is no
such thing as a free lunch? You’re just
going to give us pardon and eternal
life without exacting anything from us?”
The implied answer from God is: Yes. And our text concludes with God telling them why this can be: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” In other words, the promise of salvation embodied in the Gospel message is other-worldly. It’s the exact opposite of the standard operating procedure for every man-made religion, which is “salvation through performance” or “salvation through work.” God promises a “no-strings-attached” salvation through faith in the work of the Savior He himself would provide in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is a radical
arrangement. This is the radical nature of the Gospel message.
So what does this all mean for us? A lot. A radical message has a radical (extreme) effect. It changes us down to the very foundation – the radix – of our thinking and our being. First and foremost, it means the same for us as it did for Martin Luther: complete spiritual liberation. Practically speaking…
It means that we know where we are going to go when we die: Heaven. Life here on earth may hold some surprises for us, and we may not even always understand why God allows some of the things to happen to us that He does. But one thing there is no question about is where we’ll be the moment we close our eyes in death. Therefore we are not arrogant when we sing: “I’m But a Stranger Here, Heaven is My Home.” How can we be sure? Because – as we stated earlier – our salvation doesn’t depend upon what we do for God, but on what God has done for us in Jesus.
The bottom line: we have been liberated from the onus of a performance-based salvation. Which means we have also been liberated from a wrong understanding of God and how we relate to Him. Let me give you an illustration…
When you were in junior high or high school do you ever remember going in to a store or a restaurant with a number of your friends? And maybe because of the way you were dressed or the lively way in which you and your friends were behaving or just because you were a group of young people, the clerk or storekeeper kept a close eye on you? You kind of knew what they were thinking. You felt that if you made one wrong move or messed up in the slightest way, they’d waste no time in asking you to leave. And it wasn’t especially conducive to a strong, comfortable customer-merchant relationship.
I believe that many people in our world have that same kind of concept of God. They think of Him as some sort of grouchy shopkeeper who’s always watching and waiting for people to mess up so that He can “make them pay” or toss them out of heaven. As a result, many people feel that when it comes to God they always have to be watching over their shoulder, and they view Him in a negative light.
But we have been liberated from such a false concept of God. Because we understand the radical nature of the Gospel message, we also understand God as a loving Heavenly Father. Do we mess up? Yes. We still sin. Daily. And sometimes we have to deal with the sad consequences of our sin. But like the story Jesus told of the Prodigal Son, God is there for us. Not to humiliate us, but to forgive us.
And as the ultimate expression of the depth of such a forgiving love, we need only to look at the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is the centerpiece of the Gospel. And the Gospel sets us free. It liberates us.
So we are free to love God. Free to live our lives to His glory and honor. And just as it did Martin Luther and the Reformers, the Gospel message of Jesus Christ empowers us to live fearlessly and boldly for our God.
This is the radical nature of the Gospel message. It is the foundation of Scripture; it is the foundation of our spiritual lives. It is the other-worldly, completely unconventional promise of free salvation from God to all who embrace Jesus as Savior…
And by God’s grace and mercy, that includes us. So Christians rejoice. Because, “God so loved the world that He gave His one
and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal
life.” Fulfilled life is ours
now and eternal life in heaven awaits us.
That’s the blessed message of the Reformation. Because God had a radical idea that played
itself out in the Gospel message, we’re at peace. God be praised. Amen.