John 8:31–36

Reformation Sunday

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

³³They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?"

³⁴Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

³⁵The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Sola gratia! Sola fide! Sola scriptura! By grace alone, by faith alone and by word alone. This is the battle cry of the Reformation. This is the battle cry of our Lutheran heritage. This is the precious message of salvation the everlasting gospel which the angel preaches unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, and kindred and tongue and people. It is the Confession of faith which we as Lutheran Christians love and cherish and sing with a loud voice. It is the pure gospel of our Lord Jesus. We proudly and boldly wear the name Lutheran because our Confession is the true gospel and solid confession of the Christian, founded on the rock-solid foundation of the Bible. It is a certain and sure confession because of the one who has called us to this conviction: the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It was He who said, "If you remain in my word you are truly my disciples indeed and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

There is one very important word here that is key to understanding this text. In our translation it is rendered "abide." It says, "If you abide in my word you are truly my disciples." The word Jesus used here is the word that means, "remain," "continue in," or "stay." Literally Jesus said, "If you remain in my word you are truly my disciples." To quote Martin Luther, Jesus is saying: "Many hear the gospel and remain with it for utilitarian reasons. They reap money, good, and honor from it. Who would not like that? For this reason I state: 'If you continue in my word and doctrine, you are truly my disciples.' For I have two types of disciples. The one group believes in me; they praise and hear the gospel and say: 'This is the real truth,' It is all a matter of continuing. These are true Christians and disciples.

Then there are others who hear it; but when the battle grows hot, they say: "Should I forsake this or that for the sake of the gospel?' there are few who remain true to the gospel in the face of cross and persecution. Where can one find those who are constant? Therefore I say that if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples. If you persevere in the doctrine through cross and suffering; then you are my disciples. But my doctrine demands more than just an initial acceptance and much praise. I know that it is easy to believe in the beginning. But where are those who remain steadfast? Where is the one who will say, 'if I am not to be well, then I am satisfied to be sick. If I am not to be rich, then I shall be content to remain poor. Whether I live or die, I shall remain with Christ.'?" Yes, people would gladly believe in Christ if this could make them lords or confer kingdoms on them. But if it involves suffering, they will have no part of it, and faith is finished. Therefore Christ declares, "If you remain in the word and in my doctrine you are my disciples." Many become Christians and hold firmly to the Gospel at first; but then they abandon it and lose their faith and their salvation." Truthfully said by Martin Luther.

Jesus told a parable in which the word of God was sown like seed. Some fell on the path and was eaten by the birds. This is the word that when preached people didn't even listen to. They rejected it out of hand. Jesus is not talking about these people here. But other seed was sown on rocky soil and still other seed among thorns. These were the people who heard and received Jesus' words with faith at the beginning. But when the cares of this world, the attraction of pleasure and wealth came, when they had to suffer their crosses and bear the burdens of others in the family of faith, they soon abandoned the gospel and abandoned Christ. They lost their faith and their salvation.

For if you do not remain in the word, no matter how great a Christian you think you are, the Holy Spirit will depart from you, your faith will die, you will no longer be a part of the body of Christ, and you will lose your claim to heaven. It is only through the word of Christ that the Holy Spirit is present in your life. Your soul is a living thing and like all living things it needs nourishment. If it stops eating it will die, just as your body would die if you stopped eating. No one says, "I have eaten a delicious meal, I am satisfied, I am nourished, so now I will stop eating." He would soon wither away and die.

But when it comes to our soul; our life in Christ, people routinely say, "I have believed in Christ, or I have accepted him as my savior, or I have been baptized into faith, or I have been confirmed, or I have graduated from Bible College so now I know it all and don't need to hear and study God's word." Well, I have news for you. That is the same as saying, "I have eaten and been filled, therefore I shall not eat any more. Been there, done that." You will soon die. Faith without food will die just as the body without food will die. God does not say anywhere that the Holy Spirit is with us in any other way apart from his word. So where his word is not to be found, God is not found.

And where is his word found? His word is incarnate, made flesh in the proclamation and preaching, in the water of baptism and in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our life is here, in the word heard, preached, taught, sprinkled with water and eaten and drunk in communion. If you continue in his word you are his disciples indeed. If you do not, the Holy Spirit leaves you and your faith dies and your salvation is lost.

What does the word do? First off, that is a rather strange question. If we think of the word of God as an object, like a book or a sound wave, then to ask what it does is nonsense. What does a rock do? What does a chair do? What does a plate do? They are inanimate objects. They don't do anything. But throughout Scripture the word of God is talked about as a living, active being. It comes and goes at will. It moves. It speaks. It performs miracles. It creates things. It sees. And it even raises the dead. God's word is not an inanimate object, but a living, powerful, active being. It is the power of God. It creates faith in the unbelieving heart. It forgives our sins. The word in baptism unites us with Christ. It frees us from the power of sin. It frees us from the power of death. It gives us new life. It recreates us and renews us and it changes our hearts and lives. It is through the word that the Holy Spirit comes to us and lives in us.

The word of God is the most precious gift God has given us. Jesus Christ died on the cross. He paid for our sins. He redeemed us with his very own blood. He makes us children of God. He makes us righteous and blameless before God. And all this he gives us through his Word. His living, active and powerful word. We are saved by the grace of God, sola gratia: but it is through the word that God gives us grace. It is by faith that we take hold of forgiveness of sins, sola fide: but it is the word that creates faith in us. All that the spirit of God does to call us to faith, to illumine us, to gather us into the church, to sanctify our lives and to brings us to raise us from the dead he does through His word. By the power of the word God builds his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. God is not far from us. In Him we live and move and have our being. We are his offspring. We are heirs of his kingdom. And all this reality is created by the word of God.

This is our Lutheran confession; this is our Lutheran heritage. This is the battle cry of Lutheranism: sola scriptura. Word alone. We say we believe this, yet we don't live up to our own word. We live as if it were not true. We act as if we didn't believe the power of God's word. We are apathetic about the word of God. We often ignore the word. We don't hear and study and learn it like we should. We are lackadaisical about God's word. We are irregular in our attendance at the divine service of word and sacrament. We skip out on Bible classes. By not feeding on God's word we limit the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Then we become weak. We get discouraged. We see all the problems and difficulties facing our lives and our church and we just sit and wring our hands. We despair and cry "it is hopeless." "All is lost." All because we lack faith and fail to trust the power that God has given in his word and sacraments. The Lutheran Confessions have the highest and most lofty view of Scripture and God's word in all Christendom. There is no more exalted doctrine of the Word than in our Lutheran confession of faith. Yet we are often the last people to trust God's word. We think that by our puny, human efforts we will build the kingdom of God. That God has no power and that God cannot do the job without us. That he depends on us. And then we see ourselves weak and incapable. So we lose hope, we lose vision for God's greatness. We have a defeatist attitude and simply give up. What pitiful, shameful Christians we are!

But Jesus has an entirely different message for us today: "If you remain in my word you are my disciples indeed." That is the message of the Reformation. The word of God justifies you. The word of God declares you righteous. The word of God says: you are washed of your sins. The word says: you are God's children. The word of God says: you are holy and righteous. And the word of God creates the reality it speaks. The word of God is the power of God unto salvation. The word of God is the only effective means of building God's kingdom, and with that word the kingdom of God is undefeatable. The gates of hell shall not prevail against God's church. Now is not the time to sit around and wring our hands. Now is the time to use the power God has given to us to use. He has entrusted that powerful, saving word to us as stewards of his forgiveness and eternal life. We are to use that power to offer forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who will listen and believe. That is what the Reformation is all about. That is what it really means to be a Lutheran.

May God bless his church forever!

Amen.