Here We Stand :: Ezekiel 34:11-16
It’s amazing to think he actually took a stand. Thank God he didn’t bow out.
On this day, 500 years ago, April 18, 1521, Martin Luther’s life was on the line. The Truth was on the line. The Gospel was on the line. Our good confession was on the line.
Martin, they demanded, answer clearly and without doubletalk: Do you or do you not recant your books and the errors in them?
Martin Luther took his stand and let the light of the Gospel pierce the darkness of the powers that be. Luther took a stand for the Gospel he had been preaching and teaching, the Gospel you believe. Luther took his stand and did not turn away from the Gospel that brought comfort and certainty to the faithful in Christ (1 Pt 2:25). He stood up to the emperor and other false shepherds of the church, declaring:
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason ... for I do not trust either in the pope or in 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. ... I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand, may God help me, Amen (LW 32:112–13).
4. Brothers and sisters in Christ, Martin Luther took his stand. Now, will you?
Are you ready to fight the good fight of the faith ... to take hold of the eternal life to which you were called (1 Tm 6:12) ... Are you eager to let the truth of Jesus Christ ring forth that He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
Today, on this third Sunday of Easter, which coincides with the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s stand against false shepherds, let us stand boldly proclaiming the same Gospel of the One who baptized us, who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Let us stand boldly renouncing the devil and all our sinful ways, and receive the absolution Christ declares to us. Let us stand joyfully and eagerly receiving the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of our sins. Let us stand ... knowing and confessing that because Jesus has lived for us, died for us, risen from the grave for us ... we are saved.
We are saved ... not because of our church ...
We are saved ... not because of anything we do ...
We are saved solely because our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, took his stand. He laid down his life for us, and took it up again (Jn 10:17). He stood against sin, death, and the devil by going to the cross to bear the wrath of God for us. He has fulfilled his promises to us and has proclaimed victory in the resurrection!
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
3. So what’s the big deal? Don’t we all confess that?
In a word, no. We do not all confess that. And we need to recognize this truth.
In our world today, the clouds and thick darkness of human falsehoods continue to obscure the Gospel.
We know this because the Holy Christian and Apostolic Church we confess in the Nicene Creed is even more divided today than it was 500 years ago today.
Christian churches around the world have all taken their own stands. And they don’t agree. Many declare they are not sinners who sin. They refuse to hear the plain words of the Lord, who pleads with them to bring their children, and yes, even their babies to him so that he could bless them and make them his own (Mk 10:13; Lk 18:15). They are turning away from the means of grace in alarming numbers. They reject the Lord's absolution. They reject the Lord’s own words in the Lord’s Supper. They think it’s all about their choice, ignoring the plain words of scripture. They think they can seek God (Rom 3:11) ignoring that it is he who is the one who seeks us (Jn 10:16).
What about you? Where do you stand?
By some counts, there are 200 denominations in the U.S. and 45,000 in the world. Far too many of the shepherds of those flocks are scattering their sheep. They are doing exactly what the Lord preached against in the verses immediately preceding our Old Testament reading (Eze 34:1-10). This isn’t to say that those who attend those churches are lost; there are many true Christians in the mix. But they are in danger.
So here we stand: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Heb 10:23-25).
Yes, let’s stand on the good confession.
At the Diet of Worms, with his life on the line, Luther stood without wavering. He refused to be moved from his teaching except by the correction of holy scripture. And so should we.
Today, our Lutheran Church in her confessions now condemns those who teach that a person can be justified before God because he lived a good life (AC II 3). We condemn the teachings of those who say that children who are not baptized are not sinners ... and that infants are saved by their innocence without Baptism (FC SD XII.10). We reject the teaching that we can earn the forgiveness of sins (AC XII 10). We reject the teaching that God without means, without the hearing of God’s Word, and also without the use of the holy sacraments, draws people to himself and enlightens, justifies, and saves them (FC Ep III.13). We reject those who teach that the body and blood of Christ are not truly present and distributed to those who eat the Lord’s Supper (AC X 2).
And just as pointedly, we stand with Luther in our own confessions, saying: It is surely a sin and a shame that Christ so cordially and faithfully summons and encourages us to receive our highest and greatest good yet we act so distantly toward (the Lord’s Supper). We permit so long a time to pass without partaking of the Sacrament that we grow quite cold and hardened, so that we have no longing or love for it. We must never think of the Sacrament as something harmful from which we had better flee, but as a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants salvation and comfort. It will cure you and give you life both in soul and body (LC VI 67-68).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Martin Luther stood on this confession to the end of his life. Will you? Luther died believing that there is only one true Christian church on earth and only one source and norm for that church. Will you?
As Luther declared, My conscience is captive to the word of God.
2. Here, I stand, I can do no other. God help us all. Amen.
God’s Word, which we find in the scriptures, gives us our bold confession. Do you hear your Good Shepherd’s voice in it?
His Word changes the way we live and talk.
It changes our relationships for the better.
It changes everything about what it means to be a church.
And it is clear that ... while we are saved IN the church ... it is NOT the church that saves us. God alone does that through the faithful proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments that give us faith and strengthen and nourishes that faith that our Good Shepherd has come to us, and is calling to us, to join him on the mountains of rich food.
So by God’s grace, in faith and with intrepid hearts, let us answer the call of Christ, who desires that all will be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4) and become willing to stand before the judgment seat of Christ with our confessions and give an account of it (1 Peter 4:5; FC SD XII.40) ... believing, teaching, and confessing that ... God alone forgives our sins out of pure grace on account of Christ, without any work, merit, or worthiness of ours at any point in our lives (Eph 2:8-9). He alone presents and credits to us the righteousness of Christ’s obedience (Rom 5:17-19), not because of anything we have done, or anything we will do, but solely on account of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
In this we stand with Peter, who confessed in our epistle: Jesus committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Pt 2:22-24).
Because ... he is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
And now because we have been united with him ... we can be sure and certain that Christ is opening the door of paradise to you where a feast of forgiveness awaits.
1. Thank God, he has taken a stand against the abuses in the church in order to save us.
This promise comes to us today in no uncertain terms through Ezekiel.
For thus says the Lord YHWH: Behold me! Look at what I’m doing. I will carefully seek my sheep and will recognize them. ... I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered. ... I will lead them ... I will gather them ... I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ... The mountain heights ... will be their resting place. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and on good pasture they will feed on the mountains of Israel. I, I will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I, I will make them lie down, declares the Lord YHWH. The lost ones I will seek, and the straying ones I will return, and for the injured ones, I will bind them up, and the weak ones I will strengthen, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
Because of this promise ...
WE KNOW WHERE OUR GOOD SHEPHERD STANDS. HE CAN DO NO OTHER. HE WILL SAVE US. AMEN.
God help us all to be so bold and to continue standing with him, trusting in Christ Jesus, knowing he is faithful and will search for you, find you, rescue you, gather you, feed you, restore you, make you his very own. In his name.