The Bethany Bullet Sermon Message - Week of October 29, 2017

“The Reformation is all about Jesus!”

500 years ago today Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church doors in Wittenberg. When you boil it down, sum it up and get to the heart of the matter the Reformation is all about a man, a perfect man; who at the same time is true God.  The Reformation is all about Jesus!

What God has done for us in Christ’s perfect life, innocent suffering and His sacrificial death and how God views on account of the same is what the Reformation is all about.  This is best summarized in the Reformation slogan Sola Gratia (Grace Alone).  Thus the Reformation is all about Jesus! 

How God bestows on us the righteousness of Christ and how we apprehend personally what the Lord has accomplished for all objectively is what the Reformation is all about.  This is best summarized in the Reformation slogan Sola Fide (Faith Alone). Thus the Reformation is all about Jesus! 

Where one finds, hears and connects with God’s self-communication and message; and what is therefore the sole source of Christian belief and behavior is what the Reformation is all about.  This is best summarized in the Reformation slogan Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone).  Thus the Reformation is all about Jesus!  

A single sentence can express this quite well, “We are saved by grace, through faith, for Christ’s sake apart from works of the law.”   That sentence summarized in the Reformation slogan Solus Christus (Christ Alone).  Thus the Reformation is all about Jesus! 

Perhaps that is made most clear in the final sola of the Reformation, Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Belongs the Glory).  To God Alone Belongs the Glory!  The altar and pastor(s) are adorned in red on Reformation to make it clear that the Reformation is at its heart, when summed up and boiled down all about our God’s work in Christ. Red, the color of Pentecost is the color of the Reformation because the same Spirit that gave life to the church restored the truth of the Gospel and its proper place in the church through the Reformation.   The Reformation which is, was, and ever shall be: All About Jesus!

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer