Romans 3:19-28
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
The celebration we call the Reformation, changed the Christian perspective on life. For those who bought into the Reformation, life would no longer be seen as a burden, with the goal for human life limited to living a pure life, obeying God’s Law and the laws of the Church, all to avoid God’s punishment. You see, the Reformation helped us to see that God was not the tyrant, as proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church of that day, the tyrant who demanded continual confession and penance, ever threatening purgatory and hell. For those of you who are not familiar with the word penance, penance is an act designed, so that the sinner, can show God his/her desire for forgiveness; some looked at it as a way of earning God’s forgiveness (adoration of relics and pilgrimages fell into this same mind set).
Martin Luther revived the understanding of faith that said, and I summarize, we are not saved by what we say, do or even believe, but by Christ crucified. He emphasized the belief that we can’t earn a single moment of relief from God’s punishment for ourselves or for someone else. We don’t need to; Jesus did it all for us. What that meant for his parishioners was that they, as good Christians, could actually enjoy life; they could go to the local pub, and have a pint or two or three, and they could share in the conversation and singing that was a part of the German pub experience of that day, without feeling like they were doing something wrong, without feeling guilty. Martin Luther, as scared and as uptight as he was early on in his life, fearing God’s punishment and afraid he would fail Jesus, got past that fear, and he in fact spent a bit of time himself in the pubs, he even made use of some of the, then current, tunes that he learned in the pubs for his hymns, wanting to popularize and make contemporary the Word of God in hymnody. Luther embraced the freedom offered within the Christian faith and you can read in Luther’s writing called “Table Talks”, how he loved to entertain at his dinner table; he often entertained students and faculty and others; and at the table they would have a few beers along with spirited discussions on everything from theology to politics to everyday life’s needs and wants.
Just as the Renaissance, through art and science, was bringing Europe out of the “Dark Ages”, so too was the Reformation bringing light into the otherwise dark lives of the people of faith. Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where fun was considered bad. The Amish live lives where fun is limited. Southern Baptists also limit the ways that a person can have fun. In Philadelphia and many others municipalities, up thru the 1970’s with their “Blue Laws” put limitations on the things that could be done on Sundays, and enforced those laws. But, today, the “Blue Laws” are mostly ignored, and thanks to the Reformation, we can go to a restaurant or bar on a Sunday, we can shop, we can go to a movie, we can play golf, we can even go to work on a Sunday. I think Luther would protest against any requirement that would demand that a person go to work on Sunday, but he would respect the choice of a person to work and he would accept the choices of those who would seek entertainment or shopping on a Sunday, he may not like it when the choices interfere with going to church, but he would accept the choices; he definitely would not condemn the people for their choices.
When things end, here at church today, I want you to walk away knowing that you are free to enjoy all of the wonders and blessings that the Lord our God has given you. And you do not have to feel guilty about having a little fun. Granted we do not want to go overboard and we don’t want to do things that cause others harm or that may damage God’s beautiful creation, but God didn’t give us such a wonderful world, so that we would let it go to waste. God wants us to enjoy one another’s company, conversation and so on. What a wonderful life and world the Reformation opened back up to us.
Of course, it wasn’t the Reformation that made all this possible; the Reformation merely rediscovered the love of God in Jesus. The Reformation rediscovered the freedom of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Just the words, around which the Reformation was inspired, the words written by the Apostle Paul to explain what Jesus did for us, and again I summarize, we are justified by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, tell us, all we really need to know. There is nothing within those words that says that we should not be loving and caring of one another; there is nothing that says that we should not be faithful to God, and there is nothing that says that we cannot have fun. The generosity of God’s love through Jesus and God’s forgiveness through Jesus and the promise of salvation through Jesus allow us to live without, as we might say, walking on eggshells, worried about God’s wrath and judgment.
Today, my plan is to go home following our shared potluck dinner, make myself comfortable and watch the Eagles game; notice I didn’t say enjoy it, but hopefully I will. Likely I’ll also see my kids and grandkids today, but hopefully, after the game. What will you do this afternoon? Please, have some fun, compliments or Martin Luther, the Reformation and of course our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God loves you and wants you to be as happy as possible.