Wednesday, October 30 2019 PM

Well, I wanna welcome all of you here at Sunnyside Baptist Church tonight for our annual reformation celebration.

Tonight, we're going to have a couple of skits. The second one will feature many different reformers as we think about God's many blessings to us over the centuries.

But first, we're going to hear from Martin Luther himself as he has been whisked away to the

Castle Wartburg in the year 1521, where he has very important work that he is undertaking.

Before he speaks to us, I'm gonna go ahead and start us with a word of prayer. Father, I thank you for gathering us here tonight.

I thank you for the blessings that you have poured out upon your church these last 500 years, and an opportunity tonight to give you thanks through our celebration.

May you be honored and praised. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Hello, my name is

Martin Luther. I was born on November 10th, 1483 in Saxony at Eiselben in Germany.

I was named after Saint Martin, a man of faith who stood up to the

Roman emperor in a little place we now call Worms, Germany.

Ironic, you say? Providence, I say. Here's a picture of my parents,

Hans and Margaret Luther. My father was an entrepreneur in the mining business. As I grew up, my father had big plans for me.

He thought I should use my brilliance to become a lawyer, and I could help him succeed in the mining industry.

To please my father, I went off to university in Erfurt. I was actually the first person in my family to go to university.

There I learned Latin, which was supposed to help me be a lawyer. Little did

I know God had other plans for my schooling. Long story short,

I got caught in a thunderstorm, frightened almost to death. I thought

I was going to be flung into eternity, struck down by lightning, and I didn't know the condition of my soul.

So at that moment, I called out to the patron saint of miners, the patron saint of my family.

Saint Anne, save me. I will become a monk. It all sounds so ridiculous now, but God used that vow.

I could not turn back on the vow I made, even though I said it all out of irrational fear.

I picked myself up and walked back to the university. I left the law school for the church.

My father became very angry with me for leaving the family business, but I could not go back on the vow

I made. I became an Augustinian monk. That means

I did a lot of harsh things to my body and did a lot of study with my mind.

An important invention made studying the Bible and other books a whole lot easier.

This invention is called the Gutenberg Press. Before this tool was made, copying a book required handwriting all its words onto blank pages of another book.

Now you could stamp a whole page full of words onto a piece of paper all at once. Books were becoming more common, but not the

Bible. It was not yet translated, copied, and given to the people in their own language.

I was ordained a priest in 1507 and studied and taught at the universities of Erfurt and Wittenberg.

The university of Wittenberg was founded by Prince Frederick in Saxony in 1502.

One of my friends from Erfurt made sure I would be able to teach here. This was a small little river town, but Prince Frederick had big plans for it.

God had even bigger plans. For the first time in my life, I really began to study the

Bible. I taught the Psalms, Romans, and Galatians to my students.

I preached regularly to the townspeople. But the more I studied and preached the

Bible, the more concerns I had about the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.

I tried everything I was told to do to be saved and to stay saved.

I could never do enough to make peace with God. I was never holy enough in my thoughts or truthful enough with my words or sacrificial enough with my deeds.

Even when I went to the most holy city on earth, Rome, all

I found there was filth. Yet as I read the Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek, joy unspeakable flooded my heart.

I was amazed at something I read in Romans 1, 17. For in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. I felt entirely born again, as though led through open gates into paradise itself.

Suddenly the whole of Scripture had a new appearance for me. I recalled the passages which

I had memorized and realized that other verses too showed that the work of God is what

God works in us. Thus, St. Paul's words that the just shall live by faith did indeed become to me the gateway to paradise.

I had learned from the Scriptures that salvation was not something I could earn. When the

Pope authorized the selling of indulgences, I became very concerned. People were being told that if they paid money, they could receive forgiveness of sins for themselves or for others.

This money was used to pay off debts and build a big fancy cathedral.

One heretical salesman, Tetzel, would go around saying, every time a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory does spring.

What is purgatory? It was an invention of the Roman Catholic Church, a kind of hell you eventually could get out of if you suffered enough or if you paid your money upfront.

I could not allow such a horrible practice to continue. Having been so immersed in my studies of the

Scriptures, I wanted to debate these matters and many other problems I saw with the church.

On October 31st, 1517, I nailed 95 theses to the door of the chapel in Wittenberg.

This was the place that all such notices were posted. These theses were all in Latin, the language of scholars.

Little did I know that this paper would soon be spread in the language of the common folk.

Within two weeks, they had been printed and read throughout Germany. Within a month, translations were being printed and sold all over Europe.

My 95 theses hurt the sales of indulgences so much that the leaders of the

Roman Catholic Church became very angry with me. They sought to disprove my teachings through debates.

Cardinal Cajetan debated me in Aspern and John Eck debated me in Leipzig.

I learned through these debates that our disagreement had to do with the authority of what the

Bible says versus what men say. I decided to stick with the

Bible. The Pope excommunicated me, calling for the burning of all my writings.

He wanted me arrested and my voice silenced. On December 10th, 1520,

I burned this papal bull. What force do the words of men have when they disagree with the word of God?

Before the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, a council of 32

German rulers and 30 archbishops and bishops, I was called on to recant my beliefs and deny what

I had written in many different books. I thought I would be given opportunity to defend my beliefs.

Shocked that these nobles wanted only my admission of error, I asked for a day to pray about my answer.

My response the next evening, April 18th, 1520, was one

I had well prayed through. I said, unless I am convicted by scripture or by clear reasoning that I am error, for popes and councils have often erred and contradicted themselves,

I cannot recant. For I am subject to the scriptures I have quoted. My conscience is captive to the word of God.

It is unsafe and dangerous to do anything against one's conscience. Here I stand.

I cannot do otherwise, so help me God, amen. Although my advocate,

Prince Frederick, had originally secured a promise from Charles V that I would not be harmed, after hearing my stand, the

Emperor called for my arrest and execution. Prince Frederick took quick action.

He had me kidnapped on the way home by his own men just to keep me safe. I took up a new name and a new life as a knight here in Wartburg Castle.

I was now Saint George to all the townspeople. Locked away in this castle, sometimes

I think I'm going a little crazy, but God helps me. I keep very busy, you know.

I'm translating the New Testament into German so that all my countrymen may read the

Bible as I read it. I am convinced that the

Bible is the answer. The Bible is the answer to all the lies of the

Roman Catholic Church. The gospel of Jesus Christ in these scriptures will chase away all these false gospels having to do with buying indulgences, praying to dead people, and working for your salvation.

I stay locked in this castle, praying hard, working hard.

What am I praying? After darkness, light. Can an indulgence purchase for you peace with God?

Can your good deeds merit for you the mercy of God? Indeed, they cannot.

I hope that you have read the scriptures for yourself and have learned that forgiveness is a free gift of God that we receive by faith, not a thing we can earn or buy.

The church has been built up through these years by people like you and me, sinners who

God saves freely by his grace. This building is not the church, we are the church.

The Bible says that we, Christians, are members of God's household. We are living stones, building blocks, being built up into a spiritual house.

This wall here gives us a picture of what the Bible is talking about. Just like a structure or house that we build on earth,

God's spiritual house has a foundation, a floor, the most important part of any building because it holds up all the rest, the walls, the ceiling, everything.

This foundation is the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the

New Testament. Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone of this foundation, the one who holds it all together, who makes and keeps the church strong.

Through the years, God has built upon his prophets and apostles with Christians who loved him and made a difference in their times.

They were strong building blocks because they believed God's word. They called me

Ignatius. For 40 years in the second century, I served the

Lord as a bishop in the church at Antioch and wrote letters to the churches. When I was an old man, the

Roman emperor Trajan came to Antioch. He hated us Christians and accused me of being a devil and deceiving man.

When I told him that I had Jesus in my heart, he condemned me to be torn apart by lions in the amphitheater in Rome.

I thank my God that he has honored me and that I could die for him. When Arius openly taught that Jesus was a created being and not

God, I, Athanasius, wrote and taught that Jesus Christ is

God. I was willing to do this even if no one else joined me.

I would have gladly gone to the lion's den for my Savior. My name is

Augustine. If you would understand the New Testament, read the

Old Testament. Scripture is its best interpreter.

And if you would understand the New Testament in the light of the

Old Testament, read further into the Scriptures. God has given us the

Holy Spirit to open our eyes and to enlighten our hearts that we might understand

God's word. And in this understanding, remember this, in essentials, unity.

In non -essentials, diversity. And in all things, love.

Do you see by this wall how God was building his church? But wait, what's this?

These are not true building blocks. These are stumbling blocks.

It is obvious they don't belong here. Hello, you remember me, don't you?

Don't you? I'm Tetzel. You might remember

I got your money last year, sold you religious treasures that I said could get you into heaven or even your sins forgiven.

Well, don't you know that the more money you give to the church, the better spots you can get in heaven for you and your loved ones?

And surely you understand my contribution to the church, why I'm the

Pope, handpicked by God to be the head of the church. Oh, how wonderful it is to have control over the civil magistrates and use my authority to make things the way

I want them. And of course, when I speak, it is

God's command. You don't even need to read a Bible. In fact, you don't even need a

Bible. That's where I come in. I'm ignorance.

You just listen to the Pope and forget all about the church. All about this Bible business. It'll just confuse you anyway.

But be careful not to walk under any ladders or you might lose your salvation. And be sure to wear a neck chain woven of hair or you might not have any babies.

These stumbling blocks are not part of God's church and must be removed from this wall.

How can this be done? I'm Gutenberg.

I'll help people get the word of God by printing many Bibles at once with my new method, the printing press.

No longer will several families have to share a copy of the

Gospel of John or share several chapters from Psalms or Proverbs because of the great amount of time involved in hand copying every word one at a time.

As they read, God himself will drive away ignorance and fill their hearts with a light of truth.

I defy the Pope. For a thousand years, the Catholic church has repressed truth, freedom, and Christianity.

Salvation is by grace alone through faith. And this is a gift of God. I see this for myself by God's Holy Spirit.

And the people of Germany must have the Bible in their own language instead of Latin so that they can learn this too.

That is why I labored to translate the Bible into German so that the common people of my country can have the light of life.

My name is John Calvin. Most people remember me only for my teaching on predestination, but I taught the whole counsel of God.

If it's in the scripture, I believed it. And I taught it to students who came from all over the world to Geneva, Switzerland.

You see, Luther's great teaching created such a huge demand that when he died, these newly named

Protestants came to me. The light of the gospel of Christ was going out into all the world.

I'm John Knox. I want people to believe in the simple truth of the gospel and stop with this worshiping of idols.

Like this one. One time, I was a prisoner on a

French ship and a Frenchman tried to force me to kiss a statue.

And I refused. Seeing my opportunity, I grabbed it from him.

And I said, away, cursed thing. And I threw it into the river. And I said, let her learn how to swim.

She's light enough. Let her save herself. And so God's spiritual house, the church has been built throughout the centuries and is still being constructed today.

Listen to what it says in Ephesians two, verse 22. And in him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which

God lives by his spirit. And in first Peter, God says, see,

I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen, precious cornerstone.

And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. What about you?

Will you be a building block or a stumbling block? Will you become a part of God's building that rises to become a holy temple in the

Lord? I'm so thankful that we have

God's word. Tonight, we have these young people who are going to do just that.

They are going to read for us Ephesians chapter two. And you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also once deducted, conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

And we're by nature, children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us.

Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved and raised up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places of in Christ Jesus.

That in the ages to come, he might show us the exceeding riches of his grace and in his kindness toward us,

Jesus Christ. For by grace, you have been saved through faith and that not yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Not of works lest anyone should boast for we are his birthmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, made in the flesh by hands, that the time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation.

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

And he came to preach peace to you where we're far off to those who were near, for through him we both have access by one spirit to the

Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. In whom the whole building being fitted together, growing into a holy temple in the

Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit.

Well, I hope that this has helped you to celebrate the Reformation and don't go away. After I pray and dismiss us, we're gonna be heading back to the

Fellowship Hall for dessert, and we can spend some time rejoicing in some of the things that we've seen here tonight.

And I especially am warmed by the scripture reading from the children tonight. Thank you so much. All right, well, yeah, let's go ahead and give another round.

There we go. We're proud of you guys. Thank you for doing that. Okay, let me go ahead and pray for us. Father, I thank you for this night.

I thank you for the hard labor that has gone into preparing this night. I thank you for those who have come and come out of this very cold night to give importance, to help us put an exclamation point on this time of the year, where we reflect on all the blessings you have given us because of the

Reformation. Lord, we glorify you and praise you and thank you that we are the recipients of these blessings and ask that you would help us to be good stewards.

Help us as we move forward to spread your kingdom and to honor you in all that we do. We pray these things for Christ's sake.