Sermon Series: Misconceptions About Christianity 

It Means Being Protestant or Catholic 

Romans 1:17

Reformation Sunday

October 26, 2003 

CBC Bishop

In a nutshell: Christianity isn't a matter of whether or not you're Protestant or Catholic or anything else. What counts is your answer to four key questions regarding faith. The bottom line is that it's all about Jesus.

I. Introduction

A. The inaccurate tape measure

An old proverb says, "A positive conviction without accurate information is a dangerous thing."

My friend and neighbor Marcus and I were building a 12' x 12' storage shed in his back yard several years ago, when we lived in Missouri. I helped him frame the structure, wrap it in plywood, build trusses, put a roof on it, and then we started to put the clapboard siding around the outside, to get it completely water-proof before the first winter snow fell.

Our plan was for Marcus to stand at the building and measure the length of each piece of siding with his tape measure, then he'd call out the measurement to me, and I would transferred that measurement to the board to be cut, using my tape measure. Then I'd cut the clapboard to the proper length, and hand him one end of the board and together we'd hold it up to where it had to go, to make sure it fit. Then we'd nail it into place.

However, there was a problem with first few boards I cut. Each board was about an eighth to a quarter of an inch too long. That meant we had to take each board down again and re-cut it a second time. After three boards, that process was getting "old".

When I questioned him, Marcus insisted that he was giving me accurate measurements, and I knew that my measurements were accurate. So, what was the problem? Then the idea hit me. I asked to see Marcus' tape measure, and I compared it to mine. Marcus' tape measure had been around for a long time, and mine was fairly new. When I examined his, I discovered that it was cracked about half way through the tape, right at the end of the hook. So, when tension was placed on his tape, the tape actually spread slightly and threw off the measurement by about an eighth of an inch, every time.

To fix the situation, Marcus got different tape measure, and from that point on, each board fit perfectly.

A positive conviction without accurate information is a dangerous thing.

Well friends, a misconception that a lot of folks have about Christianity is that being a Christian means that you're either Protestant or Catholic. But those terms are not an accurate tape measures in this day and age. A better tape measure would be the answers you give to four basic questions about faith and practice.

B. The Wild Boar

This coming Friday is the 486th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. This anniversary is significant for us, not because that's when the Protestants broke away from the Catholic church, but because on that date, one man had the courage to give honest, accurate answers to the 4 basic questions that I'm talking about. Let me give you some background to give us a running start into what I'm talking about..

In the summer of 1520 a document bearing the seal of the pope, circulated throughout Germany. The messengers who carried this document were searching for a renegade priest whose name was Martin Luther. The content of this official document began this way...

"Arise, O Lord, and judge Thy cause. A wild boar has invaded Thy vineyard."

This document was called a BULL. It was called that, not because it's content was "bull", but because of the very impressive seal, or "bulla" of the pope that appeared at the bottom of this document.

But before this BULL even reached Martin Luther, he already knew what was contained in it. Forty-one of his beliefs, regarding faith and spiritual practice, were condemned as "heretical, scandalous, false, or offensive to pious ears." And the purpose of the BULL was to demand that Luther retract his teachings, or face ex-communication from the Roman church.

Luther received the copy of this document on October 10th, 1520. 60 days later, Luther led a group of university students outside the city, where he burned several books on theology, as well as the papal BULL itself.

That event was the beginning of a movement that came to be known as Protestantism.

My favorite definition for Protestantism is this..., "a modification of Catholicism in which Catholic questions remain, but non-Catholic answers are given."

II. The Four Questions of Catholicism

So what are these questions we're talking about? As I said earlier, there are four of them. And the answers that Luther and other Protestants gave to these questions are very important in helping us understand what Christianity is all about. The questions are going to form the outline of the message this morning...

1. How is a person saved from the consequences of his or her sin? 2. When it comes to matters of faith, who do you follow? 3. What is the church? 4. How must a Christian live?

So, with that in mind, let's look at each of the four questions and the answers that were given at this important time in the history of the church.

A. First Question: How is a person saved?

The first question is How is a person saved from the consequences of his or her sin?

1. Luther's background...

To understand the answer, it's important to understand some things about Martin Luther. Luther was born 520 years ago, in 1483. He was the son of a coal miner. He was studying to become a lawyer. But one day, he was walking toward the village of Stotterheim in Germany, and a thunder storm came up. In the middle of the storm, Luther was knocked down by a bolt of lightening. He was terrified! And in his terror, he prayed to God and promised that if he was saved from harm during the storm, he would become a priest.

Well, Luther wasn't hurt. And, much to his parents' dismay, Luther remained true to his promise. He began studying for the priesthood, and entered a monastery. Martin became a good priest. He was devout. He was in awe of God, and he studied his Bible thoroughly.

Through this study of the Bible at the monastery, Luther became so convicted of his personal sin, that he tried everything imaginable to achieve a sense of forgiveness. -He sometimes fasted for three days at a time; -he'd often sleep during the cold winter months without a blanket, -he'd crawl for miles on his knees while praying, …just to try to do something that would take away the guilt of his sin.

But no matter what he did, he could never get rid of his guilt. That was…, until he began to study the book of Romans.

2. Luther's discovery

About this time he was assigned to teach at a relatively new university in Germany, called Wittenberg University. While he studied the Book of Romans for his class, a new and revolutionary picture of God began to develop for him. Finally in 1515, while studying his Bible, he saw a very important verse. It's so important that I'd like you to open up your Bibles and turn with me to…

Romans 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous (or just) will live by faith."

Underline that verse. You see, this verse was the key Luther had been looking for. And the answer to our first question, " How is a person saved from the consequences of his or her sin?"

Upon reading this verse, Luther wrote these words "…I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that 'the just shall live by faith'. The justice of God is the righteousness He gives through grace and sheer mercy. God justifies us through faith in Jesus Christ. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise."

Luther saw for the first time in his life, and re-discovered what the early church in the book of Acts, and also Jesus Christ, Himself, had taught...that a person is saved from the consequences of sin, only by faith in what Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary. Only faith placed in Jesus has the ability to remove sin and guilt from anyone.

The huge problem that this new found truth presented for Martin Luther, was that it clashed violently with the Roman church's doctrine of justification by faith and good works.

The implications for Luther and his fellow priests were enormous. If salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone, the biggest function of the priesthood-intercession through the mass and hearing confessions-wasn't necessary. And as you can imagine, the Roman Catholic church, didn't like this teaching.

B. Second Question: When it comes to faith, who do you follow?

Now, that brings us to the second of our four questions. When it comes to matters of faith, who do you follow?

1. The issue of indulgences

Now folks, you've got to understand, Martin Luther had no intention of causing division in the church by what he learned from the book of Romans. However, the flagrant abuse of church finances through the selling of a thing called, indulgences, finally pushed him over the edge.

The sale of indulgences began during the times of the Crusades. It had become a great money maker for the Popes. In essence, an indulgence was a piece of paper purchased by a person that said the sinner who bought the paper was exempt from punishment in purgatory. The basis for the church saying it could do this was based on the huge "treasury of good works" that the church believed it had somehow accumulated over the years from the lives of the saints who had been martyred in the past, or who had done exceptional acts.

As the practice evolved, sellers of indulgences told people that they could live any kind of life they wanted, and not experience the eternal consequences of their actions, as long as they had this piece of paper. Obviously this led people to deny any kind of sorrow or guilt for their sin. They in essence could buy their way into heaven.

During Luther's time, there was an especially good indulgence salesman named, John Tetzel. Tetzel was given permission by the pope to raise money for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, by selling indulgences. Tetzel had a little jingle that he would say to people...

"As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

Tetzel visited Wittenberg. And upon hearing this guy's terrible theology, Luther became furious! So following the scholarly custom of the day, Luther wrote down his arguments against indulgences (there were 95 of them) and went to the public bulletin board - which was the castle door at Wittenberg - and nailed them to the door for everyone to see, and allow public debate to begin.

That significant event happened on All Saints Day, October 31, 1517 - 486 years ago this coming Friday!

That act was the match that lit the fuse of the biggest explosion since the first century of Christianity!-The Protestant Reformation!

2. Luther criticized

Luther was criticized by people from all walks of life. Two years after nailing the 95 theses to the door at Wittenberg, he was summoned to a council of religious leaders who wanted him to recant (or take back) what he wrote in the 95 Theses.

Luther said he would, if he were proven wrong by the words of Scripture alone. After 18 days of debate, Luther finally cried out in frustration, "A council may sometime err. Neither the church nor the pope can establish articles of faith. These must come from Scripture alone."

And there you have Luther moving from answering the first question on how a person is saved, to answering the second question, When it comes to faith, who do you follow? His answer was..., "The Bible alone."

3. Luther Hunted - Rescued by "Protesters"

After this council meeting, the powers in control of the church wanted to literally burn Luther at the stake for being a heretic. But Luther was saved by some German noblemen. These men who rescued Luther were called Protesters, or Protestants. And that's where we get the name.

Luther appeared before other councils of churchmen and nobility, and finally he had to go into a witness protection program, because of the many threats on his life. So, for an entire year he hid out in a castle in Wartberg, (pronounced, Vort-burg) that belonged to a Duke Frederick. While he was there, he translated the entire New Testament into German, so the people could begin reading the Scriptures for themselves.

C. Third Question: What is the Church?

And that brings us to the third question-What is the church? About a year after Luther entered this witness protection program in Warberg, things in Germany started to calm down, and Luther went back to Wittenberg to begin a sweeping spiritual reform in the church there, that was based solely on Scripture.

The first thing he did was to eliminated all sacraments, except those instituted by Jesus, Himself. That meant that only the Lord's Supper and Baptism remained.

Second, he removed all the church hierarchy -bishops, cardinals, secretaries, and priests. He did this because, as he said, "the church needs pastors, not politicians".

Third, he encouraged local pastors to abandon the practice of celibacy. He gave permission for pastors to marry. In fact, Luther himself married a former nun, Katherine von Bora. And from that, a new image of the ministry appeared in Christianity-a married pastor, living like any other man with his own family.

Finally, Luther re-wrote the Latin liturgy so that everyone could receive both the bread and the wine at Communion. And the focus of worship changed-from the celebration of the Mass to the preaching and teaching of God's Word.

The third question was being answered. The church was not some organization, rather, it was people-people who were being transformed and trained by the Word of God to live as faithful followers of Jesus Christ.

D. Fourth Question: How must a Christian live?

And that leads us to the fourth question-How must a Christian live?

With the clergy being removed from political power and the people no longer going to their priests for confession and forgiveness, that meant that there were no longer two levels of Christianity-priests and laity. The idea that religious authority rested in an exclusive priesthood was being abolished. People were being freed from their fear of what priests could do to them.

Luther, and the men who followed him in the reformation movement held that God called people to different occupations-some were called to be farmers, some to be scholars, others to be blacksmiths, some laborers, some to be pastors, some to be soldiers, and so on. But, no matter what their occupational calling was three things needed to be true for every Christian...

1. They were expected to serve God in whatever occupation they did. This was a revolutionary concept! Christian blacksmiths were expected to be different from non-Christian blacksmiths by how they treated people, how they conducted business, and how they became an adornment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. Second, they said that every person who called him or herself a Christian had the right and the duty to read the Bible (Especially now, since it was in their own language).

3. And finally, every Christian was expected to take a responsible part in government, public affairs, and in the ministry of the church.

Theologians called all this new activity "the priesthood of all believers". Luther simply called it being a follower of Christ.

III. Conclusion

A. The answers to the four basic questions spread

From Luther's Germany, these re-discovered answers to the 4 basic questions…that had been asked by people and had been given many different answers since the first century…, began to spread across the world.

Zwingli and Calvin began teaching these answers in Switzerland, and France. Calvin's influence spilled over into Holland, along with James Arminius. Philip Melancthon carried the message to Bohemia and Hungary; and Olav and Lars Petri carried these new answers to Scandinavia. Then in England, the Protestant roots took hold through men like Coverdale, Tyndale, Wyclif, Cranmer and Latimer.

B. Commitment to the Word of God for the answers

But when you analyze the movement started by Martin Luther and carried on by all these other guys, there is one common denominator...These protesters had all returned to God's measuring tape for truth-the Bible-for the answers to those 4 questions. They started reading and obeying what the Bible taught- -not what tradition taught, -not what some other authority figure taught, and -not what circumstances seemed to dictate at any given time. It was the Bible alone, that once again became the authority base for their answers. And that was effective because….

Heb. 4:12 …the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

-The words of the Bible cut through all the junk of religion, denominations, and politics; -it cuts through the differences of Catholic and Protestant. Because when you begin to look closely at the answers the Bible gave Martin Luther to the four basic questions about faith and practice, you start to see what Christianity is all about-in the words of the great devotional writer, Oswald Chambers…(front of worship folders)

Christianity is not devotion to work, or to a cause, or a doctrine, but devotion to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Oswald Chambers)

C. Walk Worthy

Friends, please listen to me. -Do you know why we're seeing a decline in morals in our country? -Do you know why we're battling over the issue of abortion? -Do you know why we're facing more and more substance abuse among adults and youth in our nation? -Do you know why the courts are ruling against displays of the Ten Commandments being allowed in a courtroom? …It's because not enough Christians are making a difference in our society. Our power to make a difference is based solely on the quality of our relationship with Jesus Christ. If that relationship is strong, our influence will be strong-because we're aligned with God who can do God-sized things. But if that relationship takes a back seat to anything else, then we're just another voice in a plurality of voices.

I'm afraid too many Christians have placed our labels (Catholic or Protestant), or organizations, or denominations, or doctrinal differences, or our good works…as the main thing -rather than Jesus.

Almost two thousand years ago, it was a vital relationship with Jesus that allowed a bunch of fisherman and societal low-lifes to turn the world upside down. 486 years ago, it was the re-discovery of a vital relationship with Jesus that gave a bunch of protestors the ability to reform the established religion of the world, and change the course of nations.

Folks we have to regain vital relationship. Paul writes…

Philippians 1:27 27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's not a matter of Protestant or Catholic. We have to start getting it right once again. The first century church got it right. Martin Luther and the reformers got it right. It's a matter of our relationship to Jesus and whether or not that relationship is making a difference in our life that counts. Amen.