Pastor Michael Cofer
John 8:31-36
Thank you all for inviting me to speak at your church today. Wittenberg is on the cusp of growing chilly at this time of year and I apologize if I have brought with me a hint of our less temperate climate. For those of your who might not recognize me, I am professor Martin Luther. I hope you will not think me prideful to assume that you know who I am, since you have my name stamped all over this lovely church of yours.
Though I must say, I am much embarrassed that anyone would call themselves a follower of Luther, and in some ways it makes me feel as though I have failed. If you bear any admiration for my teaching, or any brotherly love for me, then please follow Christ alone, and not some bedeviled sinner like me.
Well, lest we waste any more of our precious time together, let’s lay aside that issue and move on to something of much greater import than how we label ourselves. Rather let us talk about truth. Every generation since Adam and Eve were persuade by the words “did God really say…” have struggled with this notion of truth. Pontius Pilate, when face-to-face with our Lord (the living embodiment of truth) asked “What is truth?”
Scholars and philosophers have chased after it with reckless abandon and have brought to bare the full force of human wit, and are left asking the question, “what is truth?” and yet they are confounded because truth is mightier than any eloquence and the Spirit is greater than genius. That is why the scriptures tell us that the mysteries of God have been hidden from the wise and revealed instead to children.
It is an inborn desire in all human hearts; to know and cling fast to the truth. I have studied a thousand books, and yet there is only one of them that can speak into the heart and kindle the fires of faith and hope and truth. Before to the Word of God, all worldly wisdom must bow in reverence.
I must tell you that one of the great joys in my life was to watch the passion and devotion which consumed the common folk for the word of God. Of course you well know that before I translated the Bible into German, nobody but scholars and priests could read it. Regular folks with regular jobs had to just leave it to the “professionals” to tell them whatever they needed to know about God. But when they got the Bible in their own hands in their own language… They devoured it. They carried it with them, when they could. They committed it to memory… It became part of their daily vocabulary.
I wonder, how many of you own your own, personal copy of the Bible? Wow… That is incredible. So many of you. Surely you must be passionate about the word then. Surely, if almost every single person, even many of the children, have their own copy of the scriptures, you must know them very well. I can only guess that they are on your lips every day.
You know, I should tell you a secret. You will not know the truth simply by reading the bible. Now, hear me out. There are many people who read the Bible, and it does not strike their hearts at all. People throughout history, including my time and I could guess even in yours, have misused and abused the holy scriptures for their own purposes, or have read into it folly and error where none ever stood. Such a person may be an attentive reader, and yet be closed completely from the truth.
Our Lord said in the gospel of John, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” As you can see, knowing the truth does not come through cloistered study, but in living – in bearing the mantle of a disciple. It is through obedience, not cunning, that a person learns the truth.
And where there is truth, there is freedom. Yet, a strange duality emerges. Freedom follows truth which follows obedience. A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. And yet, a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all. What does this mean?
Every man, no matter their station in the world, is compelled by one of two masters. Christ tells us plainly that, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” I believe it. I find, with the apostle Paul, that when I sin I am appalled at it.
It is not merely the outward act that shames me, it is knowing that the sin began first in my heart and grew out from there to my will, and finally was given life in my words and deeds. I have tried all manner of things to rid myself of the disease of sin. I have fasted and prayed, attended daily confession, did acts of penance even to the point of damaging my own body. And none of it could free me from my bondage to sin.
And why should it? What slave can set himself free? But Christ offers the gift of freedom to us. He can do what we could never do. He alone understands our slavery and has the power to liberate us. That is the power of the cross.
I believe that Jesus Christ, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, in order that I may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
In Christ you have been set free. Not so you can go back to living the way you always have, but so that you can begin anew as a free person. Should we run back to the devil, who despises his servants and wishes them harm? Certainly not! Rather, we should serve our Heavenly Father, who calls us His children, who loves us, and who desires for us eternal life.
Everyone who sins is a slave to sin, but if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. This is most certainly true.
