INTRO
Let’s all do something together. Quickly turn to the cover of your bulletin and stare at the picture for just a moment. Notice the tired, ruggedness of this combat soldier. He’s not a spring chicken anymore. More than any of this, the photo depicts a man charged with a duty to fight for the defense of his nation, his way of life and faith, and the rights of the helpless.
In less than two weeks, our nation will honor those of you who served this great nation on Veterans Day. The reasons each of you served will vary from person-to-person. But one reason you fought -- whether it was conscious or not -- was to defend the religious freedoms we all have in Christ Jesus. Some of you fought during WWII, some in Korea, other’s Vietnam -- just as I fought during Desert Storm. And whether you were overseas on the battlefront, or here at home in the factories or raising children, we have all fought -- in one form or another -- to support and defend our freedoms in Christ, and to preserve for God a remnant of his chosen children the world over.
During WWII, our nation fought against an evil tyranny hell-bent to destroy freedom and the Children of Israel. In Korea and Vietnam, our nation fought to preserve freedom for those who were being denied freedom and the right to know Christ Jesus. And during Desert Storm, we fought to protect the wellbeing of others -- and equally as importantly -- to protect the Israeli Nation from foreign invaders. I guess we could say, that in each case, our nation fought a reformation of righteousness over evil… over God’s chosen way of life, verses that of the world. But this reformation of sorts did not begin with us, nor did it begin with Luther, nor shall we even say with Christ -- but rather, with Joshua and fledgling nation of Israel of old. This morning we’re going to start in the Book of Joshua and make our way forward in time, and look at the reasons we fight. Let’s begin with Joshua. Turn please to Joshua 14:6-15.
ISRAEL’S FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
Last week we ended with God reiterating his covenant and his promises to his chosen children, before they crossed over into the Promised Land. Listen again to God’s word, because it’s an important crux for what we’re going to consider for the rest of the morning:
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
Israel renewed its covenant with God, crossed the Jordan River, and battled for 45 years to take the Promised Land. Let it be known: Israel’s fight was not easy. But the new nation followed God, even though they strayed from his command at times.
The Bible records Israel fought 31 battles. But, that is less important than the reason they fought. For that is what’s truly important. And that reason is this:
The occupiers in the land neither believed in God, nor worshipped Him. They worshipped tiny little gods fashioned from bronze, gold, and wood. What’s important in all of this for us to understand, is these people -- these occupiers if you will -- lived opposite of truth, love, and righteousness -- much the same as today in America.
God Almighty could not allow his children to occupy the same land. In order to make the land pure and fit a righteous nation, God commanded the land purged of its evil ways.
Let’s call this the first reformation of heart. God needed to reform the region to align with his ways, and not those according to humanity.
Secondly, Israel also fought to serve the will of God and to preserve for him a remnant of righteousness upon this earth. Equal to this, they fought to take hold of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: those promises being land, nationhood, and to serve as a blessing to the nations.
Now one man, more than any other, battled his entire life to take hold of God’s promises. He kept those promises in the forefront of his mind at all times, and never deviated from them. That man was Caleb -- we learned a bit about him last week. Okay, let’s turn our attention to Joshua 14 and read about Caleb’s heart for God. READ VV 7-11.
Consider Caleb: he’s an 85 year old man -- older than most of us here --and he’s saying “I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.” In other words, there was still a will in Caleb to fight if he needed. Caleb fought for righteousness, and to serve the will of God. And for that he was blessed.
The nation of Israel fought in one of God’s earliest reformation of the faith to take hold of his promises. And for as long as the nation continued to fight in the spirit for truth, justice, and righteousness, God allowed his children to remain in the land and to fulfill the blessings he promised. However, over time Israel forgot about, or set aside if you will, the promises made to their forefathers.
Nevertheless, God raised up prophets to urge Israel back to his heart. Jeremiah was such a man, a man who called for a reformation of the heart. Turn please to Jeremiah 18:11. READ JEREMIAH 18:11
The nation failed to follow God wholeheartedly -- as had Caleb. They acted like the children of God; they said the right things publically, and acted all religious. However, they strayed from God’s ways and began to live as did the foreign occupiers of old. Ways of comfort crept in, and the people refashioned the tiny little gods of old. And with those came the religion of humankind: selfishness, untruthfulness, and unrighteousness. Jeremiah spoke against these things and called the nation to repent -- just as others would have to do again in the future
JESUS’ REFORMATION -- A FIGHT FOR HUMANITY
1400 years after Israel fought for their Land, and 600 years after Jeremiah decreed a reformation of the faith, God sent his only begotten Son -- the Lord Jesus Christ -- to call the nation, and the world, to a new reformation of the heart.
Jesus said to Pontius Pilate during his trial: “I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Jesus was the ultimate reformer. He said, as recorded in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This reformation was not just for one nation, but for every person in the whole world. The reason God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob land, nationhood, and to be a blessing to the people the world over was to fulfill all those -- especially the latter -- through Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God. Through Christ Jesus, God -- through his Holy Spirit -- is leading the people of the world back to himself through a reformation of heart and faith.
Jesus reformation was the ultimate love revolution. He established a new way to God in order for all people to inherit God’s promises. More importantly, Jesus set a new precedent for the ways in which we are to move, breathe, and have our being. He came to teach and demonstrate to God’s children how to follow God wholeheartedly -- as had Caleb.
The author of Hebrews, chapter 9 verse 10 , said the old ways under the law were only to be imposed until the time of reformation: the time under Christ when the old ways of living and relating to God where to be set aside for the new.
For hundreds of years the early church proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to countless people. The earliest Christians fought for truth and justice. They helped the poor, preached the gospel, and did not cower to the ways of society. They followed God wholeheartedly and fought for what they believed -- often to the point of martyrdom. Our earliest Christian fore-parents so believed in God’s promises that they wanted all to know those promises and freedom in Christ: away from the guise of selfishness, untruthfulness, and unrighteousness.
However, in time the message was corrupted. Truth was set aside for lies. Selflessness gave way to hedonism, and goodness to badness. Worse yet, the holders to heaven’s keys - the church if you will - strayed from God’s promises through Jesus Christ, and started to again live according to the laws of human depravity -- and bowed down to worship idols of bronze, gold, and wood.
MARTIN LUTHER -- A FIGHT FOR THE FAITH
This morning -- in part -- we are celebrating Martin Luther on this beautiful Reformation Sunday. Martin Luther was a man fashioned like Caleb -- he followed God wholeheartedly. Like Joshua, Luther was a visionary. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and all the prophets of old -- and in a manner like John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul -- Luther spoke out against the evils of this world and called all people to repent. Like those, Martin Luther called upon the socio-political and religious establishment to return its heart and ways back to God, and to follow God alone wholeheartedly -- away the guises of humankind. But the powers to be didn’t want to hear Luther’s message. They called him a heretic and placed on trial. They excommunicated him, tried to silence him, and set to destroy his life -- and take it from him.
However, Luther saw a reason to fight, and fought on.
Martin Luther rediscovered the faith that had been lost to the tides of time and stolen from the people by Rome. Rome stopped teaching Salvation in Christ through grace, faith and scripture alone -- as being a free-gift to all persons. Instead, the church prostituted the faith by selling salvation for a cost -- from the pocketbook if you will.
Luther fought against the evils of the church and state. He fought a reformation of righteousness over evil… over God’s chosen way of life, verses that of the corrupted church in order to preserve for God a remnant of those who believed in Christ. Luther fought to restore Christ’s grace to the whole world.
I think it’s kind of hard for us to imagine today how much power the church had gathered unto itself. The Roman church had become the central power. It controlled kings and queens, and all peoples. There was no freedom as we think today in our nation. There was no freedom to believe as one chose. There was no freedom to state opinion. There was only freedom in so much as the state -- and the church -- gave freedom. This was not what God intended. And this, my friends, is what Luther fought against.
OUR FIGHT -- A FIGHT FOR TO REMAIN
Like Luther, our nation’s founding fathers also chose to follow God wholeheartedly and to take hold of God’s promises -- promises that were conditional upon the good people of America following God with all our heart, soul, and mind -- and to serve as a light unto the nations and to be a blessing to the people the world over.
But that message has become lost! No longer are “we the people” following God wholeheartedly and taking claim of God’s promises in Jesus Christ. We’ve surrendered to the world and gone back to the ancient ways of worshipping self and the tiny little gods of silver, gold and wood -- just had the Canaanites, and just had the church leaders in Luther’s era… and just like countless Americans today.
Like the prophets of old; like Jesus and the early church; like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Witherspoon, and many others, God is calling upon his church to fight for the faith that is free for all.
Some of you may be saying, “I don’t want to fight, I’m too old and tired, and I can’t make a difference anyhow.” But I say you can. I have faith in you, but more importantly, God has faith in you. If Caleb -- 85 years old with fight still in him could fight -- than we can as well.
Good Lutherans, on this reformation Sunday, let us all honor Luther and band together -- as a Christian Band of Brothers and sisters -- and take back the hill that we have surrendered to our nation’s misguided ways. We each can do that -- in 2 days -- on election day.
Our nation has turned its heart away and acted disobediently. We’ve drawn ourselves back and bowed down to other gods and have worshipped them. And for this, we’re paying the price. All we have to do is turn on our televisions and see the mess our nation is in -- and I contend its because the church has surrendered. We’ve decided we’re too old and tired to fight. But I say we’re young -- there’s still a fight left in this dog.
Let me end with this: I say it’s time for a new reformation of the heart. I say it’s time we -- the church -- call all people in our nation to a new time of repentance. Let us all consider today why we are Christians, and we must fight for those who have yet to know the truest taste of freedom in Jesus Christ, and let’s continue to fight the good fight for Christ. Amen. Let us pray.
