A Reformation Sermon Blessed Assurance—A Reformation Message A sermon for Reformation Day based on Hebrew 11:1-2; Philippians 3:4-14 Rev. Frank Schaefer       Scripture Readings: Hebrews 11:1-2 1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.  3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.   Philippians 3:4-14 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.    If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.  7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.  12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. This year, we celebrate the 489th anniversary of the birth of Protestant church. It was in 1521 that Martin Luther stood firm in front of the papal envoy as well as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire at the Diet of Worms. The words he spoke on that eve of the Protestant church are still ringing loud and proud: I will not and cannot recant of my words; it is neither safe nor right to go against one’s conscience; Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God! What is so remarkable was that Luther knew fully well that his bold stand would likely result in excommunication and execution.  In fact, on that day he was excommunicated by the pope and the emperor declared him an outlaw. What was Luther’s crime? He believed in the Scriptures as the only authoritative word of God and by that challenged the power of the pope (whose decrees were held to be just as inspired as the bible) Luther also opposed the church on other grounds, such as his experience of salvation by faith rather than works, and he most definitely opposed the selling of indulgences—pardons from hellfire for a donor’s relatives. We as Protestant Christians celebrate Reformation Sunday not only because of our history but also for what we are privileged to believe in. Sometimes the main Protestants beliefs are summed up with the teaching of the “five solas.” They are identified as: Sola Scriptura –Scripture only Sola Fide –by faith alone Sola Gratia –   by grace alone Solo Christo— through Christ alone Soli Deo Gloria—glory to God alone There’s not enough time to expound on every single point, so I thought I’d rather focus on the one principle that Protestants celebrate and that really sets Protestants apart from the Roman/Orthodox Church: the assurance of faith doctrine. One of the Scriptures often quoted by Protestants is from Hebrews 11 which defines faith as an assurance of salvation: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Luther even translated the phrase with “eine gewisse Zuversicht,” that is, “a certain confidence.” Many Protestant believers describe this certain confidence as an inner witness of the Holy Spirit which allows the justified disciple to know they are saved. The Apostle Paul certainly also received such an assurance of his salvation during his conversion experience as described in the book of Acts. We can find a similar description of such assurance in the writings of many church fathers, most notable in the “Confessions” by St. Augustine of Hippo. The biggest criticism of the Protestant “assurance doctrine” is that it has the tendency to make believers complacent.  Why would they continue to do good works if salvation is already in their pocket?  Scripture passages such as those from the epistle of James support this notion: “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:17) I think deep down, most every Christian would agree that both aspects of salvation are very important, faith and keeping the law (which includes doing good works). I think, even the apostle Paul in our text from Philippians had a role for keeping the law / human works in his concept of salvation. I think we need to see the context into which he is writing to understand what he means. First, we need to understand that he came from a background where keeping the Mosaic law was considered salvation. In Verse 6 we hear him say:  “…as for righteousness based on the law, [I was] faultless.” Paul, before becoming a Christian, living as a Jew, never broke the law!  That’s remarkable.  Just as remarkable as the rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking about salvation and telling Jesus: I have kept all of the law, all my life!  However, even keeping the whole law of God, did not prevent him from doing something terribly wrong: he persecuted the church (“as for zeal, persecuting the church” V6) So, in Paul’s experience, even keeping the whole law all his life did not lead him to salvation.  Paul does not want to discredit good works or God’s law; the purpose for his writing is to teach the church at Philippi an important lesson:  His intent is to correct an arrogant attitude some of the folks had. They were bragging about their righteous works and thought that they had earned their salvation. They thought they were better than others. That’s why Paul opens this passage by saying: if anyone has reason to brag, it would be me. I have kept the whole law.  But that’s not what ultimately saved Paul.  He was saved by God’s grace, by faith that came after his eyes were opened by Christ himself. Now, that puts things in perspective.  Don’t brag about earning your salvation, Paul says, rather do good works, keep the law, run the race based on the strength that comes from being saved by faith. As a good Protestant, it makes sense to me to have assurance of faith and still wanting to keep the law.  I want to do good works for my Lord, who has done everything for me. I don’t need any other motivation, and I certainly do not need the fear of losing my salvation in order to do them. That's how I understand Sola Fide--saved by faith alone.  One of the original reformers in the 16th century used an analogy that I find very helpful in this regard: that of a fruit tree: Before a tree can be productive and bear fruit it must grow into a healthy and strong tree.  Once the roots are deeply established the fruit is a natural outgrowth much like good works and an adherence to God’s law comes naturally to those who have been saved and made into a new creation by God.  Good works, God’s law are very important aspects of our faith, but to Protestants the assurance of faith is certain and primary. In this theology we avoid the pitfall of becoming modern-day Pharisees while at the same time giving credit where credit is due: to our Creator God, our Savior and Redeemer. Praise be to God who continues to draw all men unto him, who reveals his plan of salvation to us.  And let’s not forget: He who began the good work of faith in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of his glorious return.  Amen