Some other Gospel?

Reformation - October 28, 2007

Today is Reformation Sunday which we can regard in a variety of ways.

Sometimes it has been used as Lutheran triumphalism; we're better than anyone else...we have something no one else has.

That doesn't ring true.

Sometimes it has been used as an historical reminder of the breaking apart of the church in the16^thcentury, with sadness that it was necessary, with wistfulness that it could be healed someday, or with gruff determination that it is to be permanent.

But a history lesson is not sufficient for us this morning.

The questions are rather about what these scriptures are doing to us, are demanding of us today, not just back in the 16^thor in any other century.

Remember Paul's advice to Timothy that we heard as the Second Lesson last Sunday: For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.

Is the story of Jesus true?

Is it sufficient for us?

Is it adequate for these troubled and complicated times?

Does it need to be supplemented or superseded by some other story, some other person, a different Savior?

We're well aware that a very small percentage of the persons who report the news to us want to have anything to do with the church of Jesus Christ.

We've watched the glamorous movie stars who dabble in Scientology or Buddhism, or astrology and crystals.

We've been startled by the claims of radical Islam that clearly say convert to Islam or we will kill you.

Are these challenges new?

Is this a different situation than the early church faced?

And the answer is No.

It may be dressed differently, but it is exactly the same sorts of problems that the church has faced from the very beginning.

Paul warns the Corinthians to watch out for those who will proclaim another gospel than what he had given to them. (2C11:3-5)

Paul admonishes the Galatians:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to another Gospel – not that there is a different gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. (Gal 1:6-8)

The old, old problems of “Who is this Jesus and what has he to do with me?” are very much alive and at work these days.

Shall we talk about divine redemptionor something quite different, divine acceptance?

“Jesus, save me!” is the ancient plea.

The basic problem in creation is human sin, and Jesus' action in cross and resurrection is God's solution to it.

God confronts us; God forgives us; God raises us to new life in Christ Jesus.

Our whole life consists of turning to that truth again and again, knowing that we mess up our lives constantly, but that God is determined to reach us, to transform us, to save us.

That is the faith to which the scriptures call us every day across the millennia.

The current version of the old heresies is about “divine acceptance”.

In this view, sin is not within us, but is in the oppressive structures of society that have excluded people from being fully accepted in their “created goodness.”

We don't have to change anything about ourselves.

God loves us just as we are.

There is no wrath, no condemnation for sinners, no judgment.

The cross is not needed; it is unimportant.

Love means acceptance of whoever shows up and whatever they are saying or doing.

This view rejects the idea of a “tough love” that calls us to account, bids us to take up our cross and wrestle with what it means to follow Jesus to Calvary.

In this kind of Gospel, love is not about repentance for sin, but a celebration of acceptance of ourselves just the way we are because God loves us as we are.

This other gospel should make us queasy since it is so foreign to what we have been taught in scripture and through the tradition of the church.

Unfortunately it has been making great inroads in the church in recent years,

so that some apologize for having missionaries in other lands anymore,

some can't think or talk clearly about human sexuality,

some find it so difficult to talk about our faith with friends and neighbors,

for the most part, some treat the Bible as irrelevant in decisions about what is right and true and good and useful,

some twist Baptism into our complete acceptance by God rather than a dying and rising with Christ,

some have been claiming that Jesus is not God's unique way of reaching out to us, but only one among many ways.

As has often been the case when the church goes off the track, this other gospel uses the same language we have known, but makes up new meanings for the words.

Baptism, forgiveness, love, freedom, gospel ...all of them have been twisted into something different.

It has been portrayed as a healthy diversity of hearing lots of voices.

Rather, let us be clear that it is a life and death struggle for the church itself.

Paul puts it very strongly to the Galatians:

Even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed.” (Gal.1:9)

On Mt Carmel, Elijah exhorted the people of Israel, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions. If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him.” (1K.18:21)

There is no doubt that the church is indeed limping these days.

The Reformation is not just a particular point in church history 500 years ago, it is the constant call to receive the Good News, to think clearly, and to boldly act in accord with that News in this day.

And so let's hear those scriptures in holy fear and joy:

“I will write it on their hearts,”says the Lord; “and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” (Jer.31:33)

“Since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.” (R.3:23-25)

“If you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples.” (Jn.8:31)

These are the true words, the words that kill and make alive, the words that point us to life in God's completed kingdom and to life in the in-between times now.

These are the words that help us to answer those questions that keep coming up in front of us:

Is the story of Jesus true? YES

Is it sufficient for us? YES

Is it adequate for these troubled and complicated times? YES

Does it need to be supplemented or superseded by some other story, some other person, a different Savior? NO

Lord, keep us steadfast in this Word, and let us not fall prey to another. AMEN.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.