How The First Pope Was Lutheran And
Why It Matters
Pastor Mathew Magera – 10/30/16 – Sermon 188
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I think there might be a
misconception around people who are not Lutheran to think that Lutherans are
too proud that they’re Lutheran, that following this Luther guy is stepping
over the line. Luther said this, said that, did this. Too much Luther. Not
enough Jesus. I do enjoy that Lutherans are proud to be Lutherans, but I do
have a problem with the misconceptions. Don’t get me wrong, Luther was a great
guy and he had many wonderful things to say. Still, if you brought him inside
out of the public realm, you’d be surprised at the things he said.
Leading up to this morning I
was looking at quotes from the one who led to the formation of the Lutheran
Church, that is, of course, Martin Luther. He often had many great things to
say, some of which we have quoted already this morning. However, most of the
words of Martin Luther that we might remember, tend to come from his own
published writings or as recorded quotes in various lectures or testimonies.
What we don't usually see is the Luther in his own house. There is a book that
highlights some of his private conversations with students and colleagues in
which Luther has a unique piece of advice that I want to share with you this
morning. He says, "Almost every night when I wake up the devil is there
and wants to dispute with me. I have come to this conclusion: When the argument
that the Christian is without the law and above the law doesn't help, I
instantly chase him away with a fart." (Martin Luther, Table Talk, 469). I
often wonder what his wife thought of that. Yes, that's the man that led to the
formation of our denomination right there with some sound advice for our
debates with the devil in the middle of the night. So, if you find yourself up
in the middle of the night overwhelmed by the doubts, fears and temptations
that the devil brings to us. Just do like Martin Luther. And if the person next
to you is appalled, just say you were scaring the devil away.
Yes, Reformation Sunday is
not without its unique takeaways. That’s another thing. People wonder why we
have a day set a part specifically to celebrate Luther. Lutherans must be way
too proud if they have all this pomp and circumstance around Luther as they do
around Jesus. While Reformation Sunday may have a tendency to focus on Martin
Luther, I want to keep our focus on Scripture this morning because that is
where it all starts. But, before we get there, I'm wondering if you know that
the apostle Peter is considered the first pope of the Roman Catholic Church?
It's debatable, of course, but this idea comes from the interaction between
Peter and Jesus where after being asked who people think Jesus is Peter
announces that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. After Peter makes this
confession, Jesus says "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my
church" as if to say that Peter would be the foundation for the Christian
church, according to the Catholics. Well, in the various aspects I know about
Peter, if the Catholics do consider him as their first pope, I find it slightly
humorous because by analyzing some of Peter's accounts and actions, I wonder if
Peter was actually Catholic. Perhaps this is the proud Lutheran in me but I
wonder if Peter was actually Lutheran and I began to wonder if the Roman
Catholic Church was started by a Lutheran. Think about this.
In Matthew 14, we are told
the story of Peter walking on the water. We know the story, the disciples see
Jesus coming toward them in the boat walking on the water. They don't believe
it's him so Peter says, "Lord, if it's really you, tell me to walk to you
on the water." Jesus says, "okay, come on." So, Peter being
Peter, he gets out of the boat and starts walking on the water. Then, his focus
quickly shifts from Jesus to the water around him. He starts to sink and calls
out for Jesus' help. Jesus reaches out to him and catches him and brings him
into the boat.
This seems like a good
story, but Peter's experience is a Lutheran understanding of salvation, that we
cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him.
Essentially, nothing we can do can earn our salvation. Even Peter crying out to
Jesus doesn't save him. It's only when Jesus reaches out and catches him that
he is saved. Peter demonstrates for us that all we can do is fall but that it
is Jesus' actions that save us, not our own. There's no decision for Christ,
but just the understanding that we are dependent on Jesus for salvation by his
grace, not our own doing. That is a very Lutheran understanding of theology.
Now, let's think of another
Peter story in John 6. Jesus is offering some very hard teachings and many of
Jesus' numerous disciples begin to desert him because they feel they can find
better service someplace else. Then, after these disciples left Jesus he turned
to the twelve and asked if they were going to leave too. Peter stood up and
uttered the famous words, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life." These words are so important to us that we use them before
we hear the Gospel reading. Peter's confession here tells us that Jesus is the
only one, the only way. There is no other way to hear these life-giving words.
No other way to find rest and support. Jesus is the recipient of our attention,
of our prayers, of our worship. There is no worship or prayer to other gods,
there is no worship or prayer to special saints, Jesus is the way, the truth
and the life. While this is a basic Christian understanding, you might see how
it differentiates Lutherans from Catholics with specific regard to praying to
saints. Peter argues that Jesus is the only one that can save him and free him
from his sins.
Finally, close to Jesus'
death in Luke 22, we heard the story of Peter denying Jesus three times. Jesus
was near the point of being arrested and he told his disciples that they would
all desert him, that Satan would sift through them like wheat and that even
Peter would lose faith as well. Peter, being Peter, stood up and said,
"No, Lord. Not I. I will never desert you." So, Jesus responds,
"Peter, by the time the rooster crows you will have had denied me three
times." We know how this turns out. Three times Peter denies knowing Jesus
and in Luke, just as he denies him the third time, the rooster crowed, and Jesus
was nearby and looked directly at him.
Peter here is living a
Lutheran understanding of what we call Law and Gospel, where the Law gives us
standards to live up to just like Peter felt he had been given from Jesus.
Peter was thinking that Jesus was giving him a high mark to meet and that if
Peter were strong enough he could reach it. But, in fact, already Peter was
headed south up until the moment he had reached the very bottom and felt the
guilt of his error as Jesus stared right at him. As Lutherans, the Law tells us
that until we have reached the very bottom and realized that we are not able to
save ourselves, we cannot see our need for a savior. It is at the bottom when
we realize that we need help, when we feel that conviction, just like Peter
did. It is only then that the freeing power of the Gospel, the good news of
Jesus taking our punishment from us, can be born in our hearts. It is from this
moment on that Peter begins to change and live into the Gospel and become one
of the great Christian preachers in history. But his experiences and the
stories about his life, point to ideas and understandings of Scripture and of
God that we cherish as Lutherans.
Now, I may be a proud
Lutheran, but by me telling you all of these things, I'm actually not going spend
my time saying that Lutherans are better than Catholics. If you read my sermon
title this morning and saw the words "How the first pope was Lutheran and
why it matters", no Peter wasn't Lutheran. Peter was just a follower of
Jesus.
I'm not going to say that
the first Catholic pope was Lutheran. That's not my point. My point in sharing
all of this with you is to help you see, to remember, or to understand for the
first time that being Lutheran is not something that was made up in the 1500s
by some guy who didn't like the Catholic Church. The point is to say that the
beliefs that we consider Lutheran, are not necessarily Lutheran at all, but
just biblical Christians. Peter is not the only character in the Bible that
imitates what we would consider a Lutheran faith. You can apply Lutheranism to
the entire Bible. All Martin Luther did was respond to the Catholic Church
leaning away from certain truths in the Bible that he felt were crippling the
Church. We don't hold onto the name Lutheran because of our special interest in
the founder of the denomination. We hold onto the name Lutheran because it
gives us a strong heritage in remaining true to the Bible, in pointing to Jesus
as the perfector of our faith. This is where the importance comes from, not
that Peter was Lutheran but that our Lutheran faith is founded and grounded in
Scripture.
It was Peter’s experience of
Jesus, his interactions with Jesus and his own faith, his best, his worst, it
was how all of this informs and grounds our theology today that we call
Lutheran. This matters because we should be proud to be Lutheran, not
misunderstood or embarrassed, but proud. Proud to be followers of Jesus. Proud
to be saved by him who reached out to us today when we were drowning in sin.
Proud to call Jesus the one who has the words of eternal life for us today.
Proud to have been scooped up from the dirt today when our pride failed us and
we discovered our slavery in sin. This is why it matters.
Without Jesus, it all falls
apart. Without Jesus, our slavery becomes eternal. This is what our Gospel
reading this morning in John 8 is trying to tell us. When Jesus says that we
are a slave to sin, it not only opens us up to seeing how incompetent we really
are but that we are not the only ones who suffer. We, all of us, you, me,
Peter, we are all slaves to sin and we have no power to break those chains of bondage.
We prayed this morning, "We confess that we are in bondage to sin and
cannot free ourselves."
So, if you've ever asked
yourself why you are Lutheran or why you go to a Lutheran Church you can say
that it is not about Martin Luther but it is about Jesus and how he is revealed
to us in Word alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. In fact, if you think
about it, I'm not sure Martin Luther would make a good savior anyway. I mean,
he liked sex, he drank beer, he swears and he talks about farts. He’s human
just like we are, though. He points us to Jesus, who is our Savior, reminding
us not to stray from Scripture. And if Luther can be forgiven by the grace of
God in Jesus Christ for things he says and does, so can we.
As we enter a time where the
entire world will be remembering 500 years since Luther put the hammer down,
let us spend time reflecting on why we are called Lutheran and why it matters.
I pray that in this next year, actually, our whole lives, but this next year in
particular, that we would be open to discovering something new about what it
means to be Lutheran, how Jesus reaches into our lives offering us the complete
forgiveness of sins and how He calls us to live our lives for him, sharing that
good news with one another. If you've learned anything so far, it's that you
now know what to do when you wake up in the middle of the night in deep debate
with the devil. More seriously, though, we should know that we should not be
looking for Lutherans in the Bible, we should be looking for Jesus. He is the
one that comes to us to day with the promise of life and this is nothing that
Martin Luther could ever give us. So, let us now go forth in the truth, living
into the Promise of new life that Jesus offers us as the son that sets us, the
slave, free from bondage. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.