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Habakkuk 2:1-4
'The Righteous Shall Live By Faith'
Divine Service
Reformation Sunday | October 28, 2007
Dear Saints,
The Reformation is a matter of God's Word. Really it is nothing more (and nothing less) than the Word of the Lord ringing out clearly in law and Gospel, and our celebration of the Reformation today is meant for us, that we would continue to rejoice that God's Word is preached and taught clearly, and that the Gospel is heard in all of its comfort and peace.
So here's a question to get us started: Which Scripture passage best encapsulates the teaching of the Reformation? Think about it a bit. If you were asked what passage in the Bible best explains Lutheran teaching, which one would you say?
Perhaps John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Or (and I think this is the one most of you would pick) Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Gd, that no man may boast.”
Well, how about we try on this text, Habakkuk 2:4, for our first lesson today: “The righteous shall live by faith.” It just so happens that this is the particular text in which the Reformation breaks loose.
The story is like this. Early in the 15th century there was an Augustanian monk named Martin Luther who was sure that God hated him, and he hated God right back. It wasn't that he wasn't trying to get on God's good side, oh he was trying; he just about killed himself trying, but he couldn't do it, and he despised this God who was supposed to be good, but demanded such perfection that he could never attain it. Let's have Luther tell us the story himself; he will be our preacher for a few minutes this morning.
(This comes from his introduction to his Latin Works.)
I had conceived a burning desire to understand what Paul meant in his Letter to the Romans, but thus far there had stood in my way, not the cold blood around my heart, but that one word which is in chapter one: "The righteousness of God is revealed in it [that is:in the Gospel]." I hated that word, "righteousness of God," which, by the use and custom of all my teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically as referring to formal or active righteousness, as they call it, i.e., that righteousness by which God is just and by which He punishes sinners and the unjust. [You see that Luther thought that righteousness here was something God demanded, works. He continues:]
But I, blameless monk that I was, felt that before God I was a sinner with an extremely troubled conscience. I couldn't be sure that God was appeased by my satisfaction. I did not love, no, rather I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners. In silence, if I did not blaspheme, then certainly I grumbled vehemently and got angry at God. I said, "Isn't it enough that we miserable sinners, lost for all eternity because of original sin, are oppressed by every kind of calamity through the Ten Commandments? Why does God heap sorrow upon sorrow through the Gospel and through the Gospel threaten us with His righteousness and His wrath?" This was how I was raging with wild and disturbed conscience. I constantly badgered Paul about that spot in Romans 1 and anxiously wanted to know what he meant.
I meditated night and day on those words until at last, by the mercy of God, I paid attention to their context: "The righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written: 'The righteous person lives by faith.'" [Here comes our friend Habakkuk to the rescue. You heard it, right? Paul quotes Habakkuk here, and Luther, paying attention to these words, is now set free from thinking righteousness is something demanded, and begins to understand that righteousness is something given as a gift. Luther continues:] I began to understand that in this verse the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous person lives by a gift of God, that is: by faith. I began to understand that this verse means that the righteousness of God is revealed through the Gospel, but it is a passive, i.e. that by which the merciful God justifies us by, as it is written: "The righteous person lives by faith." All at once I felt that I had been born again and entered into paradise itself through open gates. Immediately I saw the whole of Scriptures in a different light. I ran through the Scriptures from memory and found that other terms had analogous meanings, e.g., the work of God, that is, what God works in us; the power of God, by which He makes us powerful; the wisdom of God, by which He makes us wise; the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God.
I exalted this sweetest word of mine, "the righteousness of God," with as much love as before I had hated it with hate.
This event is often called Luther's “Tower Experience.” Why “tower”? I don't know. But did you hear how Luther himself told how he discovered the Gospel:
I meditated night and day on those words until at last, by the mercy of God, I paid attention to their context: "The righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written: 'The righteous person lives by faith.'"
This isn't a question of God showing up in front of Luther and giving him some new insight, or God speaking to his heart. No, rather he paid attention to the words of the Scripture, and there it was, right under his nose (Praise God, right under our nose as well): “The righteous shall live by faith.” [Habakkuk 2:4]
Well, it's good for us, then, to understand what this verse means. It is answering the question: How is one righteous? How are they righteous? Are we made righteous by doing, by working, by earning God' favor?
This is what Luther thought when he hated God and despised His Word. This is also, by the way, the foundation of every false religion and false doctrine: that we are righteousness by doing and acting and working and earning, that it is our will and our own actions that make us holy and righteous. This is also the bain of our sinful flesh: we want to please God by our doing, keeping the law, all this. You guys have a sinful flesh like me; you know the drill. We always want to make ourselves pleasing to God by our own efforts, or by our hiding our sin. But this leads only to pride or despair. The Scriptures teach another way: the righteous life by faith.
It is not our doing that makes us righteous, it is our believing, believing the promise that Jesus died for our sins, suffered in our place and took all the punishment and wrath and hell that we deserve. The righteous life by faith. Our faith, our believing, the Lord accounts as righteousness, He imputes His holiness, He declares us forgiven.
This, dear saints, is not a sermon about Martin Luther. Luther did not die for us. We were not baptized in the name of Martin Luther. This is not Luther's church; it is Jesus' church. It is He who put His name on you with His water; Jesus alone died for you. It is Jesus, and His blood, and His righteousness, and His living a perfect life and dying our death and resurrecting from the grave that gives us righteousness and peace and holiness and hope and eternal life.
And all of these things He promises and gives in His life-giving word. The Reformation is a matter of God's Word. Really it is nothing more (and nothing less) than the Word of the Lord ringing out clearly in law and Gospel, and our celebration of the Reformation today is meant for us, that we would continue to rejoice that God's Word is preached and taught clearly, and that the Gospel is heard in all of its comfort and peace, and that we would rejoice, world without end, that the righteous shall live by faith. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO