"A Wild Boar in the Vineyard" 

Reformation Sunday, October 31, 1999 

Palm Springs Baptist Church –AM Service

In a nutshell: This is a message of re-commitment to being a man of one book, so that I may be used in the most effective way, by God in His Kingdom growth.

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 last fall, 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 on the outside, to get it completely water-proof before the first winter snow fell.

Well, as we got ready to put up each piece of siding, Marcus would measure the length it had to be with his tape measure, then he'd call out the measurement to me, and I transferred that measurement to the board using my tape measure. Then I cut the clapboard to the length he told me. Then we'd each take an end of the board and hold it up to where it would go, to make sure it fit, and nail it into place.

However, there was a problem with every board I cut. Each board was about an eighth of an inch too long. So, after setting it in place, we'd have to take it down, cut off an eighth of an inch more, and then it fit fine.

Well, after this happened with the first three clapboards, I started getting frustrated. I pride myself in being accurate with my saw cuts, so I couldn't believe that everyone of them was off by an eighth of an inch. Marcus insisted that he was giving me accurate measurements. 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, mine was fairly new. When I examined it, I discovered that it was cracked about half way through the tape, right at the hook end. So, his had about an eighth of an inch more play in it than mine did. So every time he took a measurement, his was an eighth of an inch longer than my measurement.

To fix the situation, I gave Marcus an extra tape measure that was in better shape, that I had in my tool box, and from that point on, each board fit perfectly. A positive conviction without accurate information is a dangerous thing.

Well friends, the message this morning is a reminder of how important accurate information–what is commonly called , truth–is to our Christian faith. Because when it comes to our faith, we aren't just talking about having a saw cut being too long or too short. In reality we're talking about the difference between spending eternity in heaven or spending it in hell.

B. The Wild Boar

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 named that, not because of it's content, but because of the very impressive seal, or "bulla" of the pope that appeared on this document.

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

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

This event, and others surrounding it, began a movement that received the name, 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

What are these questions? Basically there are four of them to which Protestants gave new answers. And these new answers are very important to us and worthy of our understanding, because they are at the heart of what helped influence and form a certain church known as, Palm Springs Baptist Church.

I'll let the questions form the outline of the message this morning...

1. How is a person saved from the consequences of sin? 2. Who has authority in religious matters? 3. What is the church? 4. What does it mean to be a Christian?

Although Protestantism took on a whole lot of forms as it spread through Europe, and even though there are a whole lot of strains of Protestantism in the world today, the essence of what is at the heart of just about every Protestant church are the new answers that Luther gave to these four questions.

So, with that in mind, let's look at the four questions and their Protestant answers.

A. First Question: How is a person saved?

1. To Understand the answer, we need to look at Luther's background...

Martin Luther was born 516 years ago, in 1483. He was the son of a coal miner. He had every intention of becoming a lawyer, until, one day as he was walking toward the village of Stotterheim, he was knocked down by a bolt of lightening. Luther 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.

So, much to his parents' dismay, Luther remained true to his promise. He studied for the priesthood, and entered a monastery. Martin was 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 crawled for miles on his knees and prayed, just to try to do something that would take away the guilt of his sin.

But no matter what he did, he never felt relief from the guilt of his sin. 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 the verse in... (turn in your Bibles... p. 1112 in the chair Bibles)

Rom. 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 will live by faith."

Here in this verse was the key he had been looking for. And the answer to the first question, "How are we to be saved from sin?"

In his own words, (Bulletin Quote) "Night and day I pondered, until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that 'the just shall live by faith'. Then I grasped that the justice of God is the righteousness He gives through grace and sheer mercy. God justifies us through faith. 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 Jesus Christ, Himself, had taught...that a person is saved from the consequences of sin, only by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Only this faith has the ability to remove sin and guilt from anyone.

The huge problem that this new found truth presented, was that it clashed violently with the Roman church's doctrine of justification by faith and good works. (The church defined "good works" as doing virtuous acts, accepting the church's dogma, and participating in church ritual.)

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 confessional–wasn't necessary. And as you can imagine, the religious establishment didn't like this.

B. Second Question: Who has authority in religious matters?

1. The issue of indulgences

Friends, you must understand, Martin Luther had no intention of blowing the lid off of the church by his spiritual discovery. However, the flagrant abuse of church finances through the selling of indulgences finally pushed him over the edge.

The sale of indulgences began during the times of the Crusades. It had become a great way of bringing in money for the Popes. In essence, an indulgence was purchased by some generous work, or considerable financial gift given to the church. In exchange, the church offered the sinner a piece of paper that was a written exemption from penance in purgatory. The basis for the church saying it could do this was because of 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 or who had done exceptional acts.

As the practice evolved, sellers of indulgences told people that they could live any kind of life that they wanted, and not experience the eternal consequences of their actions. By purchasing an indulgence a person was told he or she would be exempt from any kind of punishment by God.

Obviously this led people to deny any kind of sorrow or guilt for their sin. They in essence could buy their way into heaven.

There was an especially good salesman of indulgences during Luther's time. His name was John Tetzel. Tetzel was empowered by the pope to raise money for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, through the selling of these 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 this allowed public debate to begin.

That significant event happened on All Saints Day, October 31, 1517 - 482 years ago TODAY!

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

2. Luther criticized

Luther was criticized by his peers and the leaders of the land. Two years after nailing the 95 theses to the door at Wittenberg, Luther was summoned to a council of religious leaders who wanted him to recant his teachings contained 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."

And there you have Luther moving from answering the first question on how a person is saved, to answering the second question, Who has authority in religious matters? 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 our name.

Luther appeared before other councils of churchmen and nobility, and finally he had to be hidden because of the threats on his life. For an entire year he hid out in a castle in Wartberg, (pronounced, Vort-burg) that belonged to 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?

After a year of hiding, 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.

He first of all eliminated all sacraments, except those instituted by Jesus, Himself. That meant that only the Lord's Supper and Baptism remained.

Second, he removed all church hierarchical positions –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 so a new image of the ministry appeared in western Christianity - the married pastor, living like any other man with his own family. Luther commented once, "There is a lot to get used to in the first year of marriage. One wakes up in the morning and finds a pair of pigtails on the pillow which were not there before."

Finally, Luther re-wrote the Latin liturgy and translated it into German. The laity began receiving both the bread and the wine at Communion. And the whole emphasis in worship changed from the celebration of the sacrificial Mass to the preaching and teaching of God's Word.

The third question was being answered. The church was not some hierarchical organization that told people what to do, but 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: What does it mean to be a Christian?

With the clergy being removed from political power and people no longer going to their priests for confession and forgiveness, that meant that there were no longer two levels of Christianity - church 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..

1. Christians were expected to serve God in that occupation. This was a revolutionary concept!

2. But Luther and the reformers didn't stop there! 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 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

From Luther's Germany, these new answers to the 4 key questions that had been asked for centuries, began to spread across the world.

Zwingli and Calvin began teaching these answers to Switzerland, and France. Calvin's influence spilled over to 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.

A. Commitment to the Word of God

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 standard of truth. They started reading and obeying what the Bible taught–and from that standard of truth, millions of lives were changed for God, and are still being changed almost 500 years later.

A positive conviction with accurate information is an awesome thing!

Heb. 4:12 For 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.

Luther and the other reformers found this out. When Luther read that passage in Romans chapter 1, he was changed. Why? Because the words he read were living and active then, just as they are now. Those words are sharper than any double-edged sword. Those words cut through all the junk of religiosity and politics; it cuts through all the problems and occupations of life, and it did for Martin Luther, what it still does today –it got right down to the heart of the issue.

It penetrates so deeply, and so decisively that when it becomes authoritative in our lives, it not only reveals the very nature of our problems; it supplies the solutions for complete resolution, as well.

B. Re-commitment

Friends, on this 482nd anniversary of the nailing of Martin Luther's 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg Castle, I want to call us all here at Palm Springs Baptist Church to a re-commitment.

This is the re-commitment, using Luther's words at one of his court trials...

"My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me."

If you feel convicted enough to repeat this with me, I'd invite you to do so right now.

But what about... -When it comes to how I handle disagreements in our church?

-When it comes to how I make decisions at work and at home?

-When it comes to how I treat someone who is seeking answers to life's questions?

-When it comes to raising my children or grandchildren?

-When it comes to living my life as a light in this dark world?

With that kind of commitment, God can use us to light a fire of revival, here in the Coachella Valley! Amen.