What Does a Lutheran Christian Look Like?

1st Sunday of End Time, Reformation, 11/1/09
Ephesians 2:8-10


What Does a Lutheran Christian Look Like?
I. Saved by grace
II. Inspired for good works


The relevance and importance of a question is directly tied to the time when it’s asked. For instance, the question, “How’s the economy here?” is a critical question for us today. It wasn’t so much so a couple years ago. “Will you be able to keep your job?” and “Will you be able to find a job?” are questions on the minds of millions of people today. “Will you be able to get the swine flu vaccine and how soon?” is before us every day lately. If you ask me, “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?” I can give you an answer. But if you ask me, “What are you doing for next July 4?” I don’t have a clue. It’s all about timeliness.

Today we celebrate the fact that our gracious God used his servant Martin Luther to return the truth of his word to his church on earth. Many good scholars of history rank Luther’s Reformation at the top or near the top of the most important events in all of history. It changed so much for so many people for 100s of years. And in celebrating the Reformation it’s been very common for Lutheran Christians to make bold statements of truth. We stand on the truth of God’s word. We’re saved by grace alone, by faith alone, through scripture alone. But it’s also good and timely to ask questions, especially this Reformation. What do we believe as Lutherans? What does it mean to be a Lutheran?

There are many verses of the Bible you could point to in answering those questions. Several of those verses are before us this morning. Listen as I read to you Ephesians 2:8-10.

Let’s keep those familiar words in our minds and hearts and then ask another timely question: What does a Lutheran Christian look like? And I ask that question not to imply that you couldn’t answer it or you wouldn’t know one if you saw one, but to remind us of God’s saving truths and to rejoice in those truths with lives of love and service to our God. May our gracious God accomplish that in us this morning!

Part I.
I’m sure you know what it’s like to have things stated so plainly that you can’t understand at all how someone can miss the point. For instance, you may ask your children, “What part of ‘No!’ don’t you understand?” We thought our words were clear and plain. Apparently not. Or you have to deal with a co-worker who dropped the ball once again. You thought they understood their responsibilities just as well as you did yours. Apparently not.

I just read the words of Ephesians 2:8-10 and I called them familiar. Most of our youth catechism students commit verses 8 & 9 to memory. One of the things that make these verses so memorable is that they are so clear to understand. If you miss Paul’s point the first time, he drives it into you again and again. Paul really shouts at everyone, “You’re saved by grace, not by works!” How can you miss his point?

How could Luther? As a young monk and then as a rookie priest in the Roman Catholic Church he was driven to despair. And why? Because he failed to do the works his church required in order to be saved. He hated the God who demanded more of him than he could possibly render. But he was familiar with Ephesians 2:8-9. How could he miss it? Because his church had taught him a false definition of grace. For the Roman Catholic Church, grace was a power that God infused in the sinner which enabled the sinner to do good works which earned salvation. Grace was no longer grace!

So why put up with that kind of false teaching when the truth is so plain to you and me? Because it appeals to our natural human reasoning and our sinful pride. That reasoning goes like this, “I’m not entirely corrupt. In fact, much of the time I’m pretty good. Surely I can do something so that my God will do something in return for me.” It’s similar to our idea of a gift exchange. We turn a gift into an obligation. If I give him something, he’ll feel compelled to give me something in return.

Paul shouts back, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.” Grace. Grace. Grace. But just what is grace? One writer stated, “Grace is the quality in God which makes him willing—yes, even eager—to give us undeserving sinners great and precious gifts.” Don’t think that God is like the tired mother who can’t stand to hear her young child pester her any longer for a treat even though dinner is less than an hour away and so she gives in. We can’t pester God into submission with our good deeds so that he gives us forgiveness and eternal life. No, this is what our gracious God wants with all his heart and mind to give us. And he doesn’t wait until we’ve shown ourselves worthy of salvation before he acts. He has already done it all for us.

That’s what grace is. It’s undeserved love from God. But instead of telling you what grace is, let me show you. Picture the holy Son of God, the sinless Lamb of God. His body is nailed to the wooden crossbeams of a cross. Blood oozes from his head, his back, his hands and feet. Our minds go numb at that point with the physical pain, but there’s more. When the sun turned dark, the Father separated himself from his Son and let him feel the fury of hell for our sins. That’s right. The sinless One suffered for the sinners. That’s grace. Jesus took what we deserve and the Father gave us what we don’t deserve. It happened on the cross. And a Lutheran Christian trusts in the grace of God, not in his or her works.

What does a Lutheran Christian look like? They’re saved by grace.

I began by speaking about timely questions. Why is this question so timely and so important? After all, I’m sure all of could answer it on the basis of Paul’s words. His point is clear. We understand. We get it.

But I don’t think it’s that simple. I think I’m correct in stating that we have problems realizing what we look like. What do you think you look like? If you listen to the world around you, if you buy into modern thinking, you’re not so bad. You’ll let your record speak for itself. You’re fairly responsible at everything you do, well, almost everything. And if that’s what you think, then of course God is gracious to you.

On the other hand, there are times in our lives when we know what kind of mess we’ve made of things. Guilt punches us in the gut. We don’t want to be reminded of what we look like.

\But you are a Lutheran Christian. And a Lutheran Christian knows and believes that we deserve nothing good from our God. Instead we deserve to be condemned to hell. But Christ took our sins and that guilt which keep sucking the joy out of life, and he died for them. But then he rose again to assure us that our sins and guilt are gone forever. What does a Lutheran Christian look like? They know and believe they are saved by grace.

Part II.
Have you ever heard this slam against Lutherans? “You Lutherans think you can sin all you want and still be forgiven. You believe in a cheap grace.” Yes, we believe in the free grace of our God. But we also believe in our response to that grace.
Paul talks about that response with these words, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

According to those words, the Lutheran Christian is known for good works. That’s because the Lutheran Christian lives in love and joy, not hatred and fear. Prior to the Reformation, Luther did good works out of hatred and fear. He hated God for demanding holiness from him. But once he understood and believed what the grace of God is—as you and I do—he began to live in love and joy. He loved the God who sacrificed his Son in love for him. He was filled with an inner joy over his forgiveness and eternal life and that showed by the way he lived.

In fact, he was filled with confidence at he looked at the task before him. Paul tells us that God has prepared good works in advance for us to do. God knew in eternity—before he created the world—that you would be his own dear child by faith in Jesus and he knew the goods things you would accomplish for him and for others. In fact, he lined things up in history so that you could accomplish those things out of love for him. Amazing, isn’t it?

That’s the very reason he placed us on this earth at this time. He created us so that we can serve him now. One of those things he knew in eternity is that you would be here today with your fellow believers praising God for his saving truths. Kinda brings the eternally cosmic down to a pinpoint in time, doesn’t it? It makes you wonder what he has in store for you later today and tomorrow, doesn’t it? Lutheran Christian, you can live in love and joy and confidence knowing that what you’re doing out of love for your God is exactly what your God has prepared for you to do. As you look at the next hour or the next set of 24 hours, you can be confident that, as you live according to his word, you are carrying out what he wants you to do, what he has created you to do.

Lutheran Christians aren’t free to sin all they want. We’re free to serve. In fact, we’re inspired to serve our God out of love and thanks for what he has done for us. What does a Lutheran Christian look like? He or she is inspired for good works.
So, what’s the place for good works in our lives? As a Lutheran Christian, we embrace them, not to save us, but to respond to the grace of God that has saved us. In fact, God has prepared those good things in advance for you to do. So how’s that coming with you? Are you doing alright in that department? Do you find yourself inspired for godly living or is it a chore? Do you find it difficult to follow through on your intentions? In other words, have you failed yourself and your God? So have I. All of us have. That’s what grace is all about. God forgives you fully and freely because Jesus lived and died for you. Your sins and failures are gone. Your God has created a new you so that you can live for him. And there’s your motivation. There’s your inspiration. You live for your God as you serve him and others with the good works he has prepared for you to do. What good things does God have planned for you the rest of today? Tomorrow? As you do them in love and joy, the rest of us and our world will see you as the Lutheran Christian that you are. Amen.