Sermon Tone Analysis

If you would please turn in your Bibles with me to Paul’s letter to the Romans.

We are going to be in Romans chapter 1 this morning looking at verses 16-17. .

Would you please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Thank you, you may be seated.

Let us pray.

Thank you, you may be seated.

This Thursday is October 31st and we all know what that means.

Kids dressed up like ghosts and goblins, stores making a fortune on candy sales, teachers and parents in horror of the sugar rush that will follow.

Corn mazes, haunted houses, parties, and many other activities.

This is what most people think of when they think of Halloween.

But what Luther started was only the beginning.

The Reformation movement would continue well over the next 100 years giving us champions of the faith that should be celebrated and remembered.

I was really excited when Brother Paul asked me to speak today because of the significance this day holds for church history.

Of course, it is not really this day, October 27th, but October 31st is a date that is of great importance in the life of the church.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

A few weeks ago Courtney and I were talking to Nick Burnett about the Fall Festival and she made a comment to the effect of “Why can’t they just put Halloween on the same day each year like they do Thanksgiving?”

I immediately interjected saying, “Do you want to know because there is a reason.”

She, of course, immediately cut me off saying she did not want to get me started.

For those of you who do not know, I am a major church history buff.

I love church history.

Truthfully I just like history in general, but especially church history.

I think it is important to know where we have come from, where we have been, and how it shapes us today.

Halloween really stands for “All Hallows Eve.”

In other words, it is the eve before All Hallows or All Saints Day.

All Saints Day is always November 1st.

The purpose is to celebrate and remember the saints that have gone before, particularly martyrs and giants of the faith.

It was a Roman Catholic tradition but many protestants observe it as well.

You see Thursday I will be, like many people, celebrating a holiday.

However, the holiday I am celebrating on Thursday, October 31st, is not Halloween.

Now, I don’t really have a problem with Halloween per se.

I like scary stories, and I like candy.

BOY do I like candy.

For those taking notes, my favorites are Hershey’s with almonds, Almond Joy, and Snickers and wash it down with a cold coke zero.

But Halloween is important for another reason as well.

500 years ago on a Hallows Eve, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany.

He didn’t mean to start a Reformation.

He merely wanted an academic debate but the Protestant Reformation started from that simple act and the church has never been the same.

Christian circles should refer to Halloween as Reformation Day.

It is something far better and worthy of celebration.

But on October 31st each year I do not celebrate Halloween.

I celebrate a very different holiday.

I celebrate Reformation Day.

You see, it was just over 500 years ago on October 31, 1517 that the Protestant Reformation was started by an Augustinian Monk named Martin Luther and the church has not been the same since.

And I think it is important that we take a journey into history this morning because the church greatly needs to have happen today what happened in 1517.

We need a new reformation.

After all, history forgotten, or history ignored is bound to repeat itself.

And while Martin Luther is certainly the most celebrated reformer, he was not the only one.

There were many great men like John Calvin, Philip Melancthon, and William Tyndale.

Before any of these men there were men like Jan Hus and John Wycliffe.

All of these men had great courage to stand up for the truth of Scripture and to not let traditions of the church stand in the way of truth.

Two of my favorite Reformers were in England under the reign of Henry VIII and his daughter, Bloody Mary.

These two men were Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley.

Because Mary Tudor was a Catholic when she ascended to the throne she wanted to rid England of the Reformation that was taking it by storm and to return Catholicism to it’s “Proper Place.”

And of course it was not just October 31, 1517 when Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany that caused and drew out the Reformation.

It was so much more than that.

But Luther was the lightning rod.

He was the catalyst.

Luther represented a major pivot point in all of history.

This is one of the reasons he is one of my favorite people in history to study because of what he did and accomplished.

So it is the life of Luther and his realization of the meaning of the Biblical text that we are looking at today that will be the focus of our time together this morning.

But, in order to set the scene of the life of Luther, we actually have to go back and look at two earlier men of God who would set the stage for what would happen in the 16th Century.

So let’s travel back 150 years to 1370.

John Wycliffe is a man who we now call the “Morning-star of the Reformation.”

You see, well before Luther came onto the scene, John Wycliffe was speaking out against the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope.

He attacked indulgences, which we will discuss in a little bit, he rebuked private confessional.

He taught that trusting in Christ is the way we become righteous.

And the worst thing, in the eyes of Rome, that Wycliffe was responsible for was his work on translating the Latin Vulgate into English.

The church believed that the lay person should not have the Scriptures in their own language.

It should be in the language of scholars and the church would tell you what the Scriptures say and what you are to believe.

Pope Gregory the XI was so outraged by Wycliffe that he issued five Papal Bulls (which are church decrees) against Wycliffe and called him the “Master of Errors.”

Wycliffe would be arrested but would die before they could convict him as a heretic.

No we fast forward about 50 years.

Still 100 years before Luther and the Reformation we have a man by the name of John Hus.

Hus read the works of John Wycliffe and his stance against Rome and the Papacy.

He read what Wycliffe had come to realize about the truths of Scripture.

Hus spoke against the Pope and indulgences and was arrested and tried as a heretic.

He was convicted and sentenced to be burned at the stake.

His last words at the stake were reported to be said to the presiding bishop, “Today you may cook this goose”, which is what the name Huss meant, “but after me there will come a swan which you will not be able to silence.”

And with those words, they burned John Huss at the stake as he prayed for his accusers and their souls.

100 years later, Martin Luther would be that Swan that would spark the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany on November 10, 1483.

So to put this in perspective Columbus had not even discovered the New World yet because as we know, in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Right?

In 1555, Latimer and Ridley would be tried as heretics for their Protestant faith and sentenced to be burned at this stake.

As the flames were about to be lit, these two brave martyrs of the faith did not lose their faith but embraced it.

Latimer called out to Ridley with now famous words, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man.

We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.”

Luther’s parents were Hans and Margarethe Luder.

The reason they named him Martin was because the next day was the feast of Saint Martin of Tours and after baptizing their newborn child they named him Martin after the famed Bishop.

His father, Hans, was a copper miner.

Now you need to remember that because that is going to be important as we progress through Luther’s life.

Hans wanted a better life for Martin so he pushed him to study law.

Luther enrolled in school at the university in Erfurt in 1501.

By 1505 he had already earned his masters degree and was ready to enroll in law school but something happened.

While walking home Luther was caught in a bad thunderstorm.

This was a storm as violent as you can imagine and lightning bolt struck the ground feet away from him.

In fact it was so close to him that Luther was knocked off of his feet onto the ground.

Now you can imagine the fear that Luther must be having at this point.

He was terrified, and rightfully so.