Reformation Day: Remembrance and Warning

We often celebrate Reformation Sunday for all the wrong reasons. Yes, we rejoice in the work that Martin Luther accomplished, but he shouldn't be our focus. Yes, we rejoice in the proper realignment of Church authority, the translations of the Bible into the language of the people, the return of congregational singing and centrality of preaching, and recapturing of Sola Scriptura, but none of those things should be our focus. None of those things on their own changed the world. 

It wasn't Luther nailing his theses to the door, but God nailing His Son to the cross that changed the world. It is the recapturing of that reality, the recovery of the gospel, that turned the world upside down yet again. The gospel has that effect in history. Christ dying for our sins and rising again is what we celebrate every Sunday, and on this Sunday we remember how easily we lost sight of that gospel. Reformation Sunday isn't about patting ourselves on the back that we are right. It is a warning to us of how easily we forget. It's a reminder to us to take heed lest we fall. The sins of the past always return in the present, but they just update their clothing, their mask. 

Today, we are going to reexamine the sins of Rome, discover our own version of that sin, but then happily settle on Christ and celebrate Him. Our main point today is Only Christ can purchase our peace