What is a Lutheran

Title:  What is a Lutheran By Pastor Lohn Johnson

Text:  Romans 1:16-17  16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, just this last week I was asked to come up with a class for our school teachers on “What is a Lutheran?”  As I began to work on that it seemed that it would be a good topic for this Sunday – for Reformation.  So I ask: “What is a Lutheran?”  Of course, this question is very vast.  We can’t cover it all. For example in the Seminary there were three volumes that tried to answer this question and that only scratched the surface.  But we can get an overview.  And when we consider this question the first thing we have to clear up is that a Lutheran has nothing to do with Martin Luther King Jr.  That’s usually the first thing someone unfamiliar with Lutheranism thinks.  Although we may respect MLK’s contribution to American history, he has nothing to do with Lutheranism other than, most likely, his mom and dad named him after the founder of Lutheranism.  The founder of Lutheranism is a 16th century Roman Catholic monk—professor Martin Luther in Germany.  (But even this is a misnomer because Jesus Christ is really the founder of Lutheranism.)  But back then Luther was struck by practices in the church that were contrary to the Scriptures.  He sought to return the Church to the authority of the Scriptures.  His protests ended up with this famous scene:

I.  In the process of Luther’s working the reform, certain teachings drawn from the Scriptures became very prominent.  Foundationally to all Luther brought out from the Scriptures, is the fact that God is a Hidden God.  Yes, Luther did have a unique perspective on the nature of God.  That perspective begins by clearly stating that God is Holy – totally untainted by sin, evil or anything like that.  And since we are sinful and even the best of us are corrupted by sin, if our holy God would come into contact with a sin corrupted man or woman that man or woman would be destroyed.  God doesn’t want that to happen. So God hides to protect us.  God didn’t just hide away and withdraw from us.  He determined safe ways to reveal Himself to us.  These safe ways all follow a pattern. That pattern is that God connects Himself to some material means and works through those means to give of Himself to us—and what He gives is special and exactly what we need most.

A. The first way God reveals Himself and gives out His gifts is through the Bible.  The Bible is a unique book because it is God and man coming together to give a safe revelation of God to man.  God moved the men to record what He wanted revealed.  It was done is such a way that there were no errors in the record, but the flavor of the men came through.  So the Scriptures are God and man combined to give what God desired to give man.  And because God is behind the Scriptures they have God’s authority.  In Luther’s day this became known as “Scripture alone.”  And it became part of the slogan of the Reformation.   In other words Scripture was the ultimate authority in determining teaching about God.

1. And because the Scriptures have God behind them they are handled in a special way.  In other words we have reading rules.  It is not subject to our whims and fancies.

a. If the literal sense of a passage makes good sense, seek no other sense or you will have nonsense.  b.  The more difficult sections are interpreted in light of the clearer sections of Scripture.  So Scripture interprets Scripture. c. Context is important.

2. And we must realize that the text we have is accurate.

a. It is not corrupted.  Any major teaching has full support of an accurate text. b. Translations may vary in quality but that’s not the problem of the original text.

3. Also Luther determined that Scripture contains two basic teachings which have different purposes.  These teachings are Law and Gospel.  To correctly understand Scriptures you have to distinguish between Law and Gospel.

a. The Law is designed to show us our sin and thereby bring us to realize that we need help that only God can supply.  b. The Gospel points to our Savior, who is the help we need from God.

B. The second way that God reveals Himself is through His only Son, Jesus Christ.  Again we see the pattern, God + a material human body =Jesus.  He was fully God and fully man.  This we can’t understand fully.  But here is God walking among us in a safe way.  His miracles show us He was from God.  And God even testified about who Jesus was.

1. He certainly showed us He was from God by what he did.

a. He lived a perfect life.  He never once sinned.  Never once disobeyed God as we do.  Only Jesus could and did do this.  And He did it for us. b. Then He was taken to the cross by evil men like us.  There He was crucified.  There he paid for our sin. There God punished Him in our place.  He paid the penalty of hell – the penalty we deserve.  He was and is the help we need.  He was the infinite sacrifice for an almost infinite amount of sin.  He died. c. On the third day He rose from the dead.  This shows us that God accepted His sacrifice in our place.

2. This became the “Grace alone” piece of the slogan of the Reformation.  You can look at it like this: G od’s R iches A t C hrist’s E xpense C. Now God gives out what Jesus has done in the same pattern that He has worked in the Scripture and in Jesus.  He gives out what Jesus has done through what we call the means of grace.  These are the Word and the Sacraments. In these means the Spirit works as He has promised.

1. The sacraments are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.   This is God’s word and promise attached to some material means.  Again we have the pattern for God to come to us safely.

a. Baptism is the Word and water and it conveys what Jesus has done.  We are given faith.  Faith that saves.  Faith that looks to Jesus alone for salvation.  b. The Lord’s Supper is the word, connected to the bread and wine and it carries Jesus’s body and blood to us.  We are really given Jesus in this supper.  We are strengthened and more…

2. Through the Word and Sacraments we are brought to another piece of the slogan of the Reformation: “Faith alone” because faith is given out in these means.   We are saved only by faith that looks to Jesus.  Nothing can be added to faith.  Anything added would take away from Jesus.

II. Through the means of Grace we are made part of God’s family the Church.  The Church is nothing other than a container for God’s gifts.  And again we see God’s pattern of working.  But now we are the material means. Jesus says: I am the Light.”  That light is contained in His church.  The Church is a lit up structure of people reaching into the world – it’s lit up by Jesus and its purpose is to give out God’s gifts.

A. Now we who have been given faith are made the “Body of Christ.”

1. And now we who are gathered together become the Church. And Jesus is in us.

a. And the purpose of those who contain Jesus is to carry God’s gifts to the world in a safe way.  b. We all have individual purposes as body parts have individual purposes.  Our task may be small or large.  Either way Jesus is shown through us to the world.

2. And to be about our purposes we must be connected to the source of our “light,” Jesus.

a. Our Worship and Bible study is designed to fill people with Jesus – to empower us to carry Jesus to others. b. In other words the light of Jesus is encouraged to shine out of us to others.

B. And we are to be constantly on guard that nothing dims the light of Jesus.  But sadly things do tend to dim the light of Jesus in us. Accordingly I have to make a note about other denominations – other than Lutheran. And there is even problems with some Lutheran groups too.

1. Other denominations tend to dim the light of Jesus in us.

a. They do this by denying or twisting or confusing some of the teachings of the Bible.  b. So It really does make a difference to which denomination you belong.  This may not be an immediate threat to your faith but it can be, especially over time.

2. Luther began the Reformation in the first place because it makes a difference what denomination to which we belong.  That’s why it is important to continue the Lutheran Church.  That’s why it’s important for us to continue as Lutherans.

CONCLUSION:  What is a Lutheran?  Again it is far more complicated than can be addressed in one sermon.  But we can summarize and say a Lutheran is a Christian who has been brought to realize that God works in this pattern – the pattern of God of coming to man in a safe way through material means.  A Lutheran is a Christian who knows that Scripture alone is our authority on teaching.  A Lutheran is a Christian who knows we are saved by Grace alone, which means through the work of Jesus given freely to us through Word and Sacrament.  And a Lutheran is a Christian who knows that our Faith alone, given by God and  apart from works, appropriates what Jesus gives out freely.  And a Lutheran is a Christian who knows that they are part of that pattern – we have received God’s gifts.  And now we are the material means God uses to carry his gifts to the world.  So really the answer to the question: “What is a Lutheran?” is really “You.”  Amen.