Robert Smith – Page 37 – What Does This Mean?

Luther Summoned to the Diet of Worms

In January of 1521, Pope Leo X, formalized the excommunication of Martin Luther in his bull Decet Romanum Pontificam. The decree removed, as far as the Pope and the structure of the church were concerned Luther’s right to teach the faith, exercise the pastoral office and receive the sacraments. It was not published until October of 1521, since it also excommunicated most of Germany’s princes and city-state governments. Emperor Charles V needed their financial and military support, especially against Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, then rising in power. His armies were marching towards Belgrade through Serbia and Hungary as these events were happening.

To address these challenges, and the threat to religious unity Martin Luther and his friends represented, Emperor Charles convened a diet (a cross between a parliament and a diplomatic conference) at the city of Worms in Southwest Germany. In January of 1521, negotiations began between the Emperor and his advisors and Elector Frederick the Wise and his advisors to summon Luther to the Diet to defend himself. The Emperor favored the papacy and the institution of the Church, but he knew to move too strongly against Luther would at best deprive him of badly needed support. Frederick was the key prince in the empire and Luther’s protector. So he agreed to give Luther the hearing that the reformer requested and a safe conduct pledge to go to Worms and return to Saxony.

The imperial summons was worded very graciously, addressing Luther with all the titles due to him as a priest and professor of theology. It was vaguely worded, stated as a request for Luther to answer questions about his books. It could be viewed as allowing everything from a full hearing to a simple demand to renounce them all. The safe conduct was generously worded and issued also by Frederick the Wise and Duke George of Saxony. In the back of everyone’s mind was a similar safe conduct given to Jan Hus one hundred years before, which was violated by the then Emperor. Hus was burned at the stake shortly thereafter. Luther and his prince would be relying on the young emperor’s sense of chivalry and his desire to keep peace in Germany.

To placate the Pope and his supporters, the Emperor also issued a mandate to sequester all of Luther’s books. The Emperor’s officials conveyed to Georg Spalatin that this was for show, that the intent was to give Luther a fair hearing. The Elector, his advisors and Luther’s friends were not entirely sure what the truth was, but advised Luther it was likely safe to attend, given the support of the princes and the estates. Luther was determined to confess the truth before the empire, even if it cost his life. He agreed to go.

One Flesh in Two Persons: Marriage

Encore Post: For six days, God had been creating the world. He spoke and light appeared, earth took form, land appeared out of the great sea. The sun, moon and stars shown in the sky. Plants grew on the ground, fish swam in the sea and animals roamed the earth.

Now Father, Son and Holy Spirit conferred and said let us make man just like us. And so he made us – male and female. He planted a garden, came down and formed Adam (His name means “ground, soil” in Hebrew) from the soil and breathed life into him. But something still was not quite right. Adam was alone.

So God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and Cats just didn’t do it. So God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God – two persons in one flesh. Adam called her woman — she-man and named her Eve–life, because she would be the mother of all people. God’s creation was finally complete. He had made marriage and the family. This was very good.

This perfect image of God, holy like him and the closest human beings have to understanding the nature of God, was ruined by sin and its consequences. When people make themselves the center of the universe there is no room for a god or another. Now sin tempts us to look everywhere for pleasure than in the very good gifts God has given to us. As we turn our hearts from our beloved and the Beloved, they grown cold and unfeeling.

This is why God condemns adultery, pornography, same sex relationships and acts, pre-marital sex, sexual assault, rape and all other seeking of desire outside of the love of one man and woman, united in marriage for a lifetime. It divides what God himself has joined together and marrs the image he placed in us. It destroys the image of the marriage of Christ to the Church and obscures the work he has done for us.

But when we were lost, unfaithful to God our husband, Jesus came and sought us to be his holy bride, with his own blood he bought us and for our life he died. When he found us, he washed us, cleansed us in baptism, so that he could present us as his radiant bride. One the last day, he will come for us, and bring us to the wedding and the marriage reception that lasts forever.

Lent and the Catechism

Very early in the history of the Church, new Christians studied the faith intensely in preparation to be baptized. It soon became the custom to baptize them during the Easter Vigil and to spend the forty days prior to Easter fasting and completing their instruction in the faith. These students (also known as catechumens from the Greek word that means to instruct) were joined in the fast by their catechists (instructors). Both groups valued this discipline so much that the whole church joined them in their study.

For this reason, the readings in the season of Lent are keyed to the basic doctrines of the faith. They become a kind of spring training for the Church as it looks forward to celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter. Often Bible classes will turn to a study of Luther’s Small Catechism (from the word that means instruction book, handbook) It has been our custom at What Does This Mean? to rerun our series of posts on the catechism, sometimes as the only post for the day, other times as a supplement. Since this series has grown to more than forty posts, we’ve decided to start during the last few weeks of Epiphany so that we have a chance of finishing before Easter. May God bless your study of the faith as we look forward to the celebration of the Resurrection.

Leo X Excommunicates Martin Luther

On January 3rd, 1521, Pope Leo X carried through on his threat to excommunicate Martin Luther. The proclamation, Decet Romanum Pontificam was little noticed at the time since Luther had been effectively excluded from the church when he failed to retract all his books and reject the teachings the Pope had declared “errors” in the more famous bull Exsurge Domine and had instead burned a copy on December 10 . Luther would later refer to this as the second of three excommunications he had suffered — his friend and monastic superior Johann Staupitz had first released him from his monastic vows, the Pope had now removed his pastoral office, his right to serve as a professor and barred him from receiving the sacraments as a “notorious heretic.” The third would come later that year at a convention of the princes and territories of the Holy Roman Empire in the city of Worms. More about that at its 500th anniversary.

Even still, it took awhile for the document to take effect. It was executed by Leo’s De’ Medici cousin on January 28th. It was sent to Emperor Charles V, then in Worms, on 18 January, but did not arrive until 10 February. The Papal Nuncio, Hieronymus Aleander, made immediate use of its contents, but prevented its publication. The reason is the document excommunicated anyone who supported Luther, including Elector Frederick the Wise and other princes and territories. He feared retaliation from them at a time when the Emperor needed their support. It did not officially take effect until published in October of 1521.

The bull also labels all followers of the teachings of Martin Luther “Lutherans” and declares them all excommunicated and that no sacraments may be performed in the territories that support Lutherans. Called an interdict, this punishment was sometimes effective in bending secular authorities to the will of the Pope and other times not so much. In this case, it was a complete failure, ignored by both supporters and opponents of Luther alike.

Negotiations had already been underway between Elector Frederick and Emperor Charles V to have Martin Luther appear before the Diet of the empire at Worms. These discussions now intensified at set the stage for the next turning point in the history of the Reformation.

God is not at a Distance

Sermon on Galatians 4:4-7
1^st Sunday after Christmas
27 December 2020
Our Hope Lutheran Church Huntertown, Indiana

Text: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Intro: In most of the world’s religions, God is very far away. For some, he is the high god that made the world and left it to lesser gods and humans to manage as they can. In Eastern religious traditions, everything is god, a single being without differences. According to them, the problem is we think we’re individuals and weighed down by our bodies and material things. Deists of the enlightenment — like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin — think of God as a craftsman — like a watchmaker — who made a fine watch — the world — wound it up and let it run as designed.

Over the last few decades, we’ve caught glimpses of this in popular song. In the 1970s, We were told “the three men I admired most, The Father, Son, and The Holy Ghost, They took the last train for the coast.” and in the 90s that “God is watching us … from a distance.”

Yet God is not far from us and never has been. He made us to be with him. Though sin separated us, he longed to be with us. He spoke with Abraham. He led the people of Israel and lived with them – first in a tent and then in a temple. He sent events in motion to become even closer to us. At just the right time he was born one of us at Bethlehem.

Sin separates us from God – and each other.
1. Rather than live according to God’ will, we live by what we think is best.
2. The result is we are separated from God and at odds with each other.
3. Sins and sorrows grow; Thorns infest the ground; death reigns.
4. We think we are alone, yet we need God and each other.
5. We are the ones who wonder away.

Jesus became one of us to save us.
1. Yet to God we are precious, a lost treasure, a pearl of great price, a lost coin and a lost sheep.
2. He has been looking for us and become one of us.
3. Born at Bethlehem, the same way as we are, except no sin of his own.
4. He dies reconcile us to God and to call to each other.
5. He is with us by our side, now and forever.

Rejoicing in the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Third Sunday in Advent
Our Hope Lutheran Church
Huntertown, Indiana
13 December 2020

Text: “Αlways rejoice. Do not stop praying. For everything give thanks because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you … Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

Intro:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear. Amen.

You may have noticed that the third candle in the Advent wreath is a little different than the others. It is a rose-colored candle instead of a purple or blue candle. The rose color stands for joy and is the theme for the third Sunday of Advent, as we begin to turn from thinking about the Second Coming of Christ and prepare to celebrate his first coming.

On Thursday this week, the antiphon for midweek services changes each day to consider a title of Jesus and pray for him to come. They are called the O Antiphons, because each is a prayer that begins with the word “O.” We know them from the Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Our secular world is also moving towards the Christmas and to joy and merriment. This celebration is ancient. As the Winter Solstice approaches, we have less and less natural light in the world, which is kind of depressing. And so the pagans would also celebrate, give gifts, make merry and party hoping to lift the gloom – a little. Many modern practices trace back to these times. And so the church taps into the sentiment and rejoices – in the first coming of Christ. “ God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day…”

Yet often there is little to be happy about – especially this year.
1. The constant drumbeat of COVID reports hangs over our lives.
2. The restrictions our governments have imposed in vain hope of controlling it bring their own misery.
3. There is also the evils that enter life even without COVID also cast the shadow of death over us.
4. “Don’t worry! Be happy!” Doesn’t quite seem to do it, does it?
It is into this darkness that the light of Christ shines.
1. Because he loves us, Almighty God leaves his throne to be born one of us.
2. He lived our life, shared our sufferings, gathered them and our sins to himself.
3. On the cross he paid the price of our sin and broke its power over us forever.
God also gives a way to cope with our dark world.
1. Rejoice all the time, don’t stop praying, give thanks for everything….
2. God is making us holy, fit for eternal life.
3. He will have his peace set guard over your hearts and minds.
4. So it is we rejoice at his first coming, looking forward to his second coming.

O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight. Amen.

Luther Burns the Bull — and Other Things

On December 10, 1520, the grace period given Martin Luther in Pope Leo X‘s bull Exsurge Domine expired. The proclamation labeled Luther’s views heretical and gave him sixty days to condemn his own views or be excommunicated. No one, least of all, Martin Luther, expected him to do so. The document also ordered the burning of Luther’s books. Very few places, all devoted to the papacy, actually succeeded in doing so. When the rumor spread that Leipzig, just across the river Elbe from Wittenberg had done so, Luther’s friends planned a response.

On that morning, Philipp Melanchthon announced that the University would respond by burning truly heretical books. They gathered several editions of the Canon Law, the works responsible for turning confession into an ordeal and the books of Eck an other opponents of Luther. John Agricola, an early friend of Luther, organized the bonfire, set just outside the city gate. He could not convince any of the professors to give up their copies of scholastic theology, so they were content to burn what they had. In the middle of the burning, Luther comes up and throws in his copy of the bull. With this action, Luther and his friends parted company with the Pope and all those loyal to him. Then he and the university professors returned to the city. The students, however, organized a funeral for the canon law, complete with songs. Rumor embellished the action. Luther wrote Spalatin to inform the Elector, who gave it tacit approval.

Why don’t you come already?

Sermon on Ezekiel 36:22-28
Tuesday after the Second Sunday in Advent
Kramer Chapel
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana
8 December 2020

Text: Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

Intro: O Emmanuel, our king and our Lord, the anointed for the nations and their Savior, Come and save us, O Lord our God. Amen.

“Come, Lord Jesus, Come!” we’ve been saying for weeks now as we reviewed last things: the signs of the end, the Lord’s urging: “keep watch!” the Second Advent, the great judgment seat, sheep and goats, the heavenly Jerusalem, eternal life at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. “Come, Lord Jesus!” Indeed! So, we shout with Isaiah, “why don’t you tear open the heavens and come already! 2020 has been a miserable year in the world, in a vale of tears, in the shadow of death. ”Why don’t you come already?” We think, even though as Christians we know better – especially as pastors, seminarians and professors. Yes, we know what St. Peter told us Sunday, that the Lord is not slow as we suppose. But it doesn’t change our longing for him to get on with it! We’re like kids on a long road trip – are we there yet?

The people of Israel in exile thought the same thing. So he repeated his promise to his people – he would return them from exile – and much more.

They didn’t deserve God’s action to save them – and neither do we.
1. Though he was a husband to them, they went after every idol and put their trust in them.
2. They claimed his name, worshipped him sometimes, yet ignored his law and abused others.
3. And so they cheapened his name, ruined his reputation and gave reason to gentiles not to believe in him.
4. Their hearts were hard as rock.
5. Yet he loved them and did not wish that they would die.

Therefore he made a New Covenant with them – and us – in His own Blood.
1. He did rip open the Heavens when he came, not in glory, but in a baby born to a virgin.
  1. With his own blood he bought us, his holy bride, and for our life he died.
  2. With Water and the Word, he cleansed us of our sins.
  3. He put his Holy Spirit in us, giving us beating hearts that love him and our neighbor.
  4. While we wait for him, we are not alone. He remains with us until the end of time itself.

Preparing for Christmas

In the United States, December is a very busy month. Christians are preparing for Christmas, Jews are preparing for Hannukah, some African Americans celebrate a fairly recent holiday called Kwanzaa. Our businesses begin already before Halloween to prepare brightly colored lights and Christmas trees, music and sales for the gifts people will buy and parties people will host. Crafters begin even earlier — the care that knitting, crocheting, sewing, making of candles, clay creations and other items take quite a bit of time and love to make.

For the church, it is a season of preparation, too! On the surface, there are the additional services and special music to prepare. Pastors take special care to craft a sermon that will bring the Good News of Great Joy to what has been delicately called the semi-annual worshippers. Yet the real preparation is not for the celebration. The real preparation is for Christ to come.

Advent is about the three ways that Jesus comes to us. Everyone remembers the first time he came — as a baby in Bethlehem. The Second Coming is when he comes at the end of time. The third way is the one most people miss — Jesus comes to us everyday in various ways. He is always with us, until the end of time itself. He comes to us every time we read his word or hear it preached. He comes when we gather in worship, especially when the pastor speaks his forgiveness to us. He is really present, coming to us in bread and wine, where he gives us his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.

So, how do we prepare for these comings? With the faith he has given to us as a gift, we turn from our sins to do his will (that’s what the Hebrew word for repent means). We completely change our minds (that’s what the Greek word for repent means, from giving in to our sinful ways of thinking to keeping God’s law and doing his will. Alone, these are impossible for us. But with God’s help, the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ and the gifts of his Word and Sacraments, we can change are hearts and minds to serve him.

About the Freedom of a Christian

For nearly two years, Karl von Miltitz, an ambassador of the pope (Nuncio) had been trying to negotiate an agreement between the Pope and Luther that would end the crisis in Germany. When Johann von Eck published the bull threatening to excommunicate Luther, Miltitz tried to arrange a meeting to find some compromise. He and Luther’s friends in the government of Frederick the Wise urged the reformer to write a letter to the Pope personally, explaining his theology in a positive, non-threatening way. He agreed. The result was the fourth great book Luther wrote in 1520, About the Freedom of a Christian. It appeared five hundred years ago in both German and Latin.

In About the Freedom of a Christian, Martin Luther describes what it means to be a Christian. He puts together in a straightforward way all that he has discovered about the Gospel and how it provides the motivation to do good works in service of God and our neighbor. Along the way he explains what would become the signature concepts and doctrines of the Lutheran Church.

Luther begins the book with a paradox, stating two things that seem to be contradictory, yet are both true at the same time:

A Christian is free, Lord over everything and is no one’s servant.

A Christian is everyone’s willing servant in every way.

Luther describes two natures present in every Christian. The spiritual nature, the New Adam, is free because the Son of God sets him free. The fleshly nature, sinful in a sinful world, the Old Adam, is bound by the realities of this age. Because Jesus came, bore our sins on the cross, paid their price in full, all of them are forgiven. A Christian is saved — and free — because he or she trusts him and relies on his merits alone. The result is that a new nature rises in a Christian, which loves God and wants to love, serve and obey them. A Christian, then, is bound by this love of God to spend his life caring for his neighbor.

So, then, Luther concludes: “Insofar as a Christian is free, no works are necessary. Insofar as a Christian is a servant, all kinds of works are done.” Although the New Adam is free from the law, he or she willingly obeys it, often automatically, for the sake of his or her neighbor. These works are also necessary to discipline the outer person, the Old Adam, the keep it from falling into sin and extinguishing faith.

Luther concludes that we should think of our good works here as the same as the good works of Adam before the fall. Good works do not make a good person, then. A Good person does good works. He puts it this way: “as Christians we do not live in ourselves but in Christ and the neighbor. Otherwise, we are not Christian. As Christians we live in Christ through faith and in the neighbor through love. Through faith we are caught up beyond ourselves into God, Likewise, through love we descend beneath ourselves through love to serve our neighbor.”