10/31/10 - Joint Reformation - Eph. 2:8-9

SOLA

In the winter of 1530, Wittenberg’s pastor, John Bugenhagen, was once again called away on a business trip for the church. And as had happened before, Martin Luther was asked to take over the preaching duties in the town since he was a professor at the university there. Which meant that for the next two years Luther began to preach on Sunday mornings, Wednesday evenings and Saturday evenings in addition to his full teaching schedule. On those Saturdays nights he decided to preach a sermon series on the gospel of John. And in one of these sermons, as he was expounding on the final verses of the sixth chapter, talking about salvation by grace through faith in Christ, he quoted Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” And after reading these well-known verses in front of the congregation Luther then said, “This is the essence of true Christianity.” And it is. Salvation by the grace of God, through faith in Christ Jesus, in the Scriptures of the Holy Spirit - this is the essence of true Christianity. And Ephesians 2:8-9 sums it up beautifully! In fact, you would be hard pressed to find another passage that combines these truths of our salvation is such a clear and succinct way. It is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture because of it. And for our purposes today it is a passage that shows us that these Latin phrases we have been using in our worship service this afternoon are nothing other than what God tells us in the Bible. Sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura: “By grace alone, through faith alone, in Scripture alone.” This is the essence of true Christianity.
Which means these concepts are not just Lutheran teachings. They weren’t merely conjured up by a few theologians in the territory of Saxony during the time of the Reformation. No! Sola gratia, sola fide, and sola scriptura are timeless teachings of Scripture itself. Because that is what Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly says. doesn’t it? We know in this Scripture passage that by grace we have been saved through faith. Don’t let the Latin fool you. The teachings of sola gratia, sola fide, and sola scripture were around long before Luther ever posted those 95 Theses on the Castle Church door in the city of Wittenberg.
In fact, this teaching about our salvation was around long before the New Testament was ever written. Ephesians 2:8-9 was not the first time that the concept of “sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura” was ever mentioned in the Bible. It’s all throughout the Old Testament as well. Maybe not in such a nice straight-forward way as it is in Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus, but salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Scripture alone is revealed in the countless stories of the Old Testament believers.
The story of Adam and Eve is a great example. They had everything, didn’t they? A perfect world in which to live, perfect weather every day, perfect food to eat whenever they wanted, a perfect marriage to enjoy, a perfect life in every respect. And then they gave all of that perfection up by eating some fruit from the one tree they weren’t supposed to eat from because they wanted even more. But what happened next? Did God instantly destroy them as he should have? Did he send the fury of his wrath upon their heads for doing such an ungrateful thing? Did he turn his back on them and leave Adam and Eve to wallow in their sinfulness for the rest of eternity? No! He came down to talk to them! He reached out to them! And then he promised to send them a Savior that would clean up the mess they had made - one of their own descendants who would undo what they did and make it possible for them to go to heaven instead of hell. Adam and Eve, just minutes after they had ruined God’s entire creation and his plan for their eternity, were rescued by that same God! And why did God save them? Sola gratia - by grace alone. There was no other reason for God to save them. In fact, everything they had done should have prompted God not to save them! But they are both in heaven right now, enjoying perfection once again - by grace alone.
Samson is another good example. You remember him, don’t you? A powerful judge of the nation of Israel, blessed with superhuman strength but hindered by a hot temper and a weakness for ungodly women. He was also supposed to be a Narzarite - which meant he was not supposed to touch dead bodies, among other requirements. But, as you know, he touched plenty of dead bodies - including a lion’s carcass without any qualms. He also routinely murdered Philistines just to get revenge, he destroyed their crops in anger, he married unchristian women from that nation - an act that went directly against God’s Word for the Israelites, he slept with prostitutes, he was arrogant, he was selfish, and he was a poor spiritual leader. But if you would read the “Heroes of Faith” chapter in the New Testament - Hebrews 11 - there alongside the names of Abraham and Moses and Noah, you’ll find the name of Samson. Because at the end of his life, when he was captured, blinded, and mocked by the enemies he had harassed throughout his life, he finally trusted in the Lord and relied on him for his strength. And so Samson too is in heaven right now. Why? Sola fide - through faith alone. It certainly wasn’t because of what he had done throughout his life! He was a terrible Christian! In fact, it is debatable if he even was a Christian before the very end of his life. But he believed in his Savior at his death and because of what his Savior would one day do for him on the cross, Samson is enjoying life with him right now - through faith alone.
Josiah, a king of the southern land of Judah, was only eight years old when he took the throne. He had grown up in an ungodly household, under a father who worshiped false gods and was even assassinated by his own officials. Josiah didn’t know the Lord or anything about his Word. But when he was 26 years old, the high priest at that time found the lost Book of the Law - another name for the Bible at that time - in the temple of the Lord. And when Josiah read the words of the Book of the Law he tore his clothes in grief because he realized how sinful he and his people had been. He then called all of the people of his kingdom together and he rededicated himself and the entire nation to the Lord and his Word. He promised that he would uphold the words of the Lord and believe and do everything in it. Josiah began to celebrate the festivals, offering the sacrifices, and listen to the reading of Scripture once again. Josiah came to know his Savior who would one day come from his own family tree. And right now, King Josiah is in heaven enjoying life with The King himself. Why? Sola scriptura - in Scripture alone. Josiah wouldn’t have known that he had been sinning or what his Savior would do about his sins without that very special Book. And now he is one of the people in that very special Book so that others might read and believe and be saved - in Scripture alone.
Sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura. This is how God saved his people in the Old Testament. Sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura. This is how God saved his people in the New Testament. Sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura. And this is how God saves you right now: Grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone. Everything about your salvation rests on him. Nothing about your salvation is up to you. And that’s a good thing because you aren’t good enough to be saved.
Has anyone every told you that before? You aren’t good enough. And I’m serious! You aren’t good enough to be saved. You aren’t likeable enough to be saved. You aren’t pretty enough to be saved. You aren’t honest enough to be saved. You aren’t nice enough to be saved. You don’t try hard enough to be saved. You don’t want it badly enough to be saved. You are incapable of being the kind of person or doing the kinds of things to gain salvation. And so, in the end, you are not even worth saving.
I’m sorry to have to tell you that you aren’t going to get some kind of motivational, self-esteem, confidence boosting speech today. I’m not going to stand up here and tell you about the potential you have inside of you or what great things you can do if you just put your mind to it. Because that’s not what Scripture is all about. The Bible isn’t written to tell us how good we are on our own. On the contrary, the Bible oftentimes lets us know how bad we are, how rotten we are, how totally and completely corrupted we are. Are you corrupted? Yes you are. Am I corrupted? You better believe it! And that is something we have to come to terms with before we go back to Ephesians 2:8-9. We have to understand how sinful we really are. We have to swallow that. It’s just hard to get that lump down the throat, isn’t it? It’s hard to admit that we are so saturated with sin in every aspect of our lives and even in every aspect of our personalities that we can’t possibly do anything to gain God’s favor; we can’t do anything to get on his good side; we can’t do anything to make him want to save us in any way. Because he demands perfection and nothing we do or say or think is even close to that standard. We are failures! We are sinners to the core. And because of that, not one of us here is worth saving. But “by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” You are not worth saving, but you are saved anyway - sola gratia - by grace alone.
Grace is a familiar word to all of us. We hear it here in church all the time. And it’s usually defined as “undeserved love,” but it’s not something that we as human beings can grasp all that well. Because we aren’t used to grace. Nothing in this world really comes all that close to the grace that God has shown to us. Some might say that a mother loving her newborn child is undeserved love: the infant doesn’t earn it, the infant doesn’t give it back, the infant even cries in the middle of the night and is incessantly demanding and is completely self-centered. But even that kind of love for a child isn’t really grace. Grace is loving someone who is actually your enemy. Someone who isn’t just vile and hateful, but someone who has been vile and hateful to you! Someone who has hurt you and doesn’t care; someone who goes out of his way to cause you harm. Welcome to Jesus’ life on this earth! He was surrounded by those kinds of people. He was plotted against by those kinds of people. He was betrayed by those kinds of people. He was crucified by those kinds of people. And while he was being hammered to a cross like piece of paper what did he say? “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus actually loved those who hated him. And Jesus actually loved us when we hated him too. When we were unbelievers we were no better than those who nailed Christ to the cross. We were his enemies. We were his adversaries. But God loved us anyway. And he loved us so much he died for us. That’s grace. And that’s why we’re saved. By grace alone. And through faith alone.
There is only one way we can believe in that grace of our God: through faith alone. And even that faith is a gift from God! We don’t decide to have it, we don’t accept Christ into our hearts, we don’t choose to let him come into our lives… Christ decides to save us, Christ accepts us; Christ chooses us. “By grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” It’s free. It’s without obligation. It’s not earned. Faith is a gift of God. Without it we wouldn’t be saved. Without it we wouldn’t believe. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone. In Scripture alone.
There is only one way the Holy Spirit gives us that faith: in Scripture alone. He does not come to you when you are sleeping in your bed or meditating under your backyard tree or peacefully sitting in your recliner at home. The Holy Spirit comes to you only through the Word. And yes, it is true that he comes to you in baptism too. But it’s not the water that is so powerful, it is the Word of God connected to that water that supplies the power on a human heart. In Scripture alone can baptism do such wonderful things. In Scripture alone can you be brought to faith. In Scripture alone can you be saved.
Sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura. These phrases were not just an ancient rallying cry for German Lutherans under the hand of the Roman Catholic church. They were not some deep theological categories that make no sense today and make even less of a difference. They are not just some cute and concise words used for a worship theme on a late afternoon in Grand Junction, CO. These words are a summary of the Words of God. These phrases speak of the way to eternal life. They are your salvation. Sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura. By grace alone you are saved. Through faith alone you are saved. In Scripture alone you are saved. To God alone be the glory.
Amen.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers [and sisters]. Amen.” - Gal. 6:18