κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim upon those sitting on the earth, and upon every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying in a great voice, “Have reverent fear of God and give to him glory because the hour of his judgment came. And worship the One who made the heaven, and the earth, sea and fountains of water.” Today is Reformation Day. It’s not every year we get to celebrate this anniversary on Sunday. Sometimes it’s 11 years between Reformation Sundays. That means a lot can change between celebrations. But one thing always remains the same ...  THE REFORMATION IS ALWAYS ABOUT THE GOSPEL This movement in history that we mark every October 31 is often attributed to Martin Luther. But that’s not true. Saint Paul was fighting Luther’s fight 1500 years earlier. So too were the prophets, as well as the patriarchs long before Paul. The Reformation, in fact, began not long after the Formation, or should I say the Creation. In the beg...

There’s a reason that today’s text is the primary Gospel reading every time we celebrate Reformation Day. It’s timeless. It speaks to the problems in Jesus’ time. It speaks to the problems in Luther’s time. It speaks to the problems in our time. It speaks to the problems of all time. It speaks so that you will know the truth and the truth will Lutheranize you ... that is, it will set you free.   So often we approach these words of Jesus from a purely philosophical standpoint, that the truth wil set you free. We like to think like Pilate asking, “ What is truth ?” And too often we understand truth only in the sense of its opposition to lies. We want others to tell us the truth and nothing but the truth. We demand truth in advertising. And when our politicians speak, the so-called fact-checkers scramble to dissect one-liners to discern the so-called truth, or at least their truth.  These are noble tasks, but there is only one truth. Our text for this Reformation service deals wi...

You can’t have it both ways. How many times have you heard this? You have to pick one or the other. Either Option A or Option B. That you can’t have your cake and eat it too. When someone says you can’t have it both ways, they are telling you how black and white your decision must be. We face these choices all the time.  But what if I were to tell you today, you can live your life both ways.  This idea can be difficult for us to believe. Before the Reformation, it tormented Luther. We tend to see things as “either ... or.” If I don’t obey the law, I will feel the wrath of God. But in our text today, Paul reminds us that sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too. Because our text today declares that GOD IS BOTH JUST AND JUSTIFIER OF THE UNJUST I. To be clear, God and his Law are both just. That is to say, God is holy and righteous. God is without sin and he hates sin and will punish sin. God is not the author of sin or death. He is the author and renewer of life. Paul’s...