Do We Have To Fight?
Matthew 11:12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violent have been seizing it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you’re willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come. 15 Let anyone who has ears listen.
(CSB)
Today we celebrate the Reformation. Specifically, the Lutheran Reformation of the 16th century. For this you and I must not apologize. We do not apologize because the truths rediscovered then are salvation truths and because they are not truths just for some, but for everyone. This is why Martin Luther would say, “Here I stand.” And that is why you and I should say and do the same thing today. “Here I stand.”
But if you do – and as you do so – then realize it will somehow cost you. And that is the message we find in the gospel lesson for today. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven is suffering violence.”
“From the days of John the Baptist…” Why from those days? Here’s why. John’s message got to heart and center of how one would be saved. It was basically twofold. John would “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts …” (Luke 1:16—17). There is this turning thing he did. It is summed up in one word that John preached over and over again: “repent.” “Repent, repent, repent, all you sinners! You are not righteous, you sin! All of you! Repent and turn!” That is one thing John did.
The other thing John the Baptist did was point. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! … I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel … And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Repent of your sins, and look at where I am pointing! Don’t look in here, don’t look over there, don’t look at what you do, don’t look at how good you are – because you are not, don’t look at the terrible thing your neighbor did that you do not do, don’t look at the comments from others about how nice and kind you are, don’t look at the decent family you have or a part of, don’t look at how rough your life is so you think you deserve better, don’t look at how you grasp truth or doctrine or morality better than most others, don’t look at the religious rituals, prayers, or services you engage in. None of these can take away your sins. No, rather look, behold, Jesus, the Son of God. For he alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
That was what John did. And by doing so – by telling people to turn and by pointing to Jesus – John opened the kingdom of heaven to all who repented, to all who were baptized, to all who looked to – believed in – Jesus as the Lamb who took away all their sins.
John started a reformation. It was a reformation that focused on Jesus Christ, and him alone. But because of that, he was attacked. He suffered. As Jesus said of him in Matthew 17:12: “I tell you: Elijah [John] has already come, and they didn’t recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” (Matt. 17:12). John suffered violence. He was beheaded.
And the suffering would continue, against Christ himself of course, but also against Christians in the years, decades, and centuries to follow. Believers who had become citizens of “the kingdom of heaven” would suffer violence because of violent enemies, both spiritual and human, enemies who would seek to seize the Christian church “by force.” They would seek to destroy Christ’s kingdom by persecuting them – outright or subtle – or by hijacking the Christian church.
Satan is always in the business of plotting and scheming, saying, “How can I undermine and destroy Christ’s kingdom on earth? How can I upset or weaken this repentance and looking to the Son as the Lamb? How can I lead Christians away from the belief they are saved by grace alone, by Christ alone, by faith alone? How? Here’s what I will do: I will persecute the church on earth. And I will also infiltrate the church on earth and hijack it in order to corrupt its teachings.”
This is what Satan did. By the Middle Ages he had hijacked the Christian church. Christ alone was still there, but that message was harder to find and rarely heard. There were several things that brought about that hijacking, but here are two main ones. Spiritual authority became rooted in the church and its pope and its bishops rather than the word of God, the Bible. Also, purgatory, which is never mentioned in the Bible, became an important doctrine, along with instructions on how to get out of purgatory – that place where one would be purified through suffering to make earthly payment for sins. Things like relics, indulgences, making pilgrimages to Rome, praying to Mary or saints, joining a monastery and denying oneself things such as land, money, and even marriage – all these became a focus. Things that could help get them or loved ones out of purgatory. Even the Lord’s Supper became a work to be performed rather than a gift of receiving the body and blood of Jesus for full and free forgiveness. The comfort of Christ and the gospel were lost. Jesus became a judge and was hardly seen as the Lamb and Savior. Purgatory is still the official teaching of the Catholic Church.
This is the world Martin Luther was born into, where the teachings and practices of the church tormented him. So he ends up joining a monastery and becoming a priest in order to figure out what in the world he could do, what sacrifices he needed to make, in order to find righteousness and peace with God.
And then in 1512 he starts teaching at the University of Wittenberg. With this torment on his mind, he studied and lectured on the Psalms, Romans, and Galatians. On October 31st, 1517, he posts his famous 95 Theses. He just wanted to start a scholarly debate on repentance versus buying indulgences to get people out of purgatory. He wasn’t try to start reformation, though that’s what happened.
But it was around this time as he was studying and lecturing on Romans and Galatians, that Luther rediscovered what had been so well hidden for so long. Here are his own words:
Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that God was placated by my satisfaction. … I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel … threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted. At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith… Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.
Listen to how simply St. Paul puts it in Romans 3:
“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.”
Romans 3:21-25
Unsurpassed comfort and hope. For it is by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith. Behold the Lamb.
When Luther was put on trial and asked to recant these truths he was now teaching, confessing, and writing about, he responded by saying: “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures and by clear reason (for I do not trust in the pope or councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.
And then the violence began. Spiritual and even physical violence toward Luther and others. Many were persecuted. Some were burned at the stake. And those who suffered were not just pastors or clergy.
The most important confession of faith of the Lutheran Church likely is the Augsburg Confession (ELS Hymnary starting on p. 7). It was read in June of 1530 to Emperor Charles V and signed before him not by Luther, pastors, or theologians, but by nine laymen (princes, noblemen, dukes, and representatives of two German cities). The Emperor demanded that no Lutheran preaching be conducted there at Augsburg. But one of them, George, Margrave of Brandenburg said, “Before I let anyone take from me the word of God and ask me to deny my God, I will kneel and let them strike off my head.” And another, a Chancellor by the name of Gregory Brueck, presented copies of the Augsburg Confession to the Emperor and fearlessly said to him: “Most gracious Emperor, this is a Confession which, with the grace and help of God, will prevail even against the gates of hell.”
Here is article IV of that confession:
We teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith, when they believe they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who by his death has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God counts as righteousness in his sight. (Article IV, The Augsburg Confession)
Here Luther stood, here those nine laymen stood, and here you and I must stand as well. We stand there not only because it is biblical, but because it is the only true hope and comfort for us and all others that will prevail against the gates of hell. And we are not alone as we stand there. As we shall soon sing:
Stood we alone in our might,
(ELH 251:2)
Our striving would be losing;
For us the one true Man doth fight,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Who is this chosen One?
’Tis Jesus Christ, the Son,
The Lord of hosts, ’tis He
Who wins the victory
In every field of battle.
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