church

INI
Reformation Sunday
October 26, 2008
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

REFORMATION IN THE HERE AND NOW
II Kings 23:1-3

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, Amen. The Word of God that we will
consider today comes from the second Book of Kings, the 23rd chapter,
beginning with the first verse, as follows (NKJV):

"Then King Josiah sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to
him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah,
and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem - the priests and the prophets and
all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of
the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. Then
the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the
Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes,
with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that
were written in this book. And all the people took their stand for the covenant."
Here ends our text.

Dear Fellow-Redeemed in Christ,

I was reading some political commentary the other day, and the subject of the
discussion was "reform." The writer pointed out that reform is a particularly
potent rallying cry during this election year. A call for governmental reform
strikes a chord with just about every voter, since every voter believes that
certain parts of the government are badly fouled up and need to be fixed. And
of course if you're a candidate you want to stop right there in your campaign
speech. Because if you start talking about which parts of the government you're
in favor of reforming, at that point there's going to be a lot of disagreement.
And savvy campaign managers also know one other thing - it's easy to make
promises about sweeping reforms sometime in the future. What's hard - and
what almost never comes to pass - is for the candidate to turn those reforms
into reality after he gets elected.

As Christians, we should all be in favor of reform. After all, we're followers of
Jesus Christ. Our spiritual life as His disciples is the single most important thing
in our lives. Or at least it should be the most important thing in our lives -- Do
you ever feel like you've been sidetracked? Like there are just too many things
crowding in on your life? Crowding God out? If so, maybe it's time to do
something about it! Today is the day we commemorate the most sweeping
reform in the history of the world - the Lutheran Reformation that took place in
Germany 491 years ago. But reformation has to be more for us that just a
historical footnote - reformation is something each of us needs to apply in our
daily lives as Christians. That's why our theme this morning is --

REFORMATION IN THE HERE AND NOW

I. NOW is the right TIME
II. HERE is the right PLACE

Have you ever heard of Josiah before? Probably not. He was a rather obscure
king of Judah during the last few decades before the people of Jerusalem were
taken into captivity in Babylonia. He's worth remembering, though. Because he
led people of Judah (temporarily, at least) in a great spiritual reform movement.
And he sure chose the right time for it. The people had been ignoring the Lord
for generations. The two kings before him, his father and grandfather, had led
the people in worshipping idols. Things had gotten so bad that one day the chief
priest stumbled across a copy of the Holy Scriptures in the temple, and he didn't
even know what it was! But he read it, and the book was brought and read
before the king. "And when the king heard the words of the Book of the
Law...he tore his clothes." II Kings 22:11. Josiah was upset! If what the words
in this book said were true, then his people were dreadfully in need of reform!
"So the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him."
Josiah didn't waste any time - he saw that a major reform was needed.
Somehow, he had to get back on track with God, and the time to do it was
immediately - RIGHT NOW!

What about you? Has your personal relationship with God been wearing thin
lately? Is it threatening to disappear altogether? One trend among American
Christians that troubles me is "compartmentalization." There are many in our
day who seem convinced that they can make their Christian faith into a separate
compartment in their lives. A compartment that in no way touches or affects
any other aspect of their lives. I'm always amazed by the political candidates,
e.g., who say that they are Christians, but who in the next breath say that their
Christian faith will in no way effect their political decisions. How can that be?
You might as well say, "Dropping a tea-bag into a cup of boiling water will in
no way effect the color or taste of the water." Once you put the tea-bag in, it's
tea! And once the Holy Spirit works faith in your heart, you're a Christian, and
that's going to effect every single other aspect of your life. How can you take
something so foundational and lock it away in a compartment?

And yet, I'm afraid that's what we try to do sometimes. Are you guilty of
compartmentalization? What about your prayer life? Your family devotions?
Your attendance here at church, where God's Word is preached? Is that just one
more item on your schedule. Is your Christian faith one more neat compartment
in your life, along with your job, your family, the clubs you belong to and the
activities you attend? Maybe it's not even a very important compartment
compared with the others. If that's the case, then you need a reformation in
your life, and the best time is right now. For God, in His holy Law, requires
much more than that. Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great
commandment." Matt. 22:37-38. It's the most important Commandment there
is. And every single one of us has broken this First Commandment in a myriad
of ways and time without number!

NOW is the right time for us to spiritually reform our lives. A man came up to
a pastor one day and said, "Excuse me, Reverend. I've never been a
church-going man, but I've been thinking lately that it's about time to start.
What do you think? When is the right time in a person's life to start going to
church?" "Well," replied the pastor, "to play it safe, you'd better make sure you
start attending church at least a month before the date of your death." The man
looked astonished. "But…I don't know the date of my death!" he protested.
"Neither do I," said the preacher, "so I guess we'll see you on Sunday, then,
won't we?"

During a recent hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, a news report highlighted a
rescue device used on the oil rigs. In case of fire or (in this case) hurricane, rig
workers scramble into the bullet-shaped "bus" and strap themselves into their
seats. When the entry port is shut, the vehicle is released down a chute and
projected away from the rig. The seat belts protect the occupants from the
impact with the water. The capsule then bobs in the sea until rescuers come to
pick it up. The device parallels the theological truth of Romans 8:l-"Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Justification
does not mean our world always stops falling apart. The rig still may topple in
the hurricane. But those in the right place, whether a rescue module or
spiritually in the storm, are safe. The storm will take its course. The welfare of
the workers depends on whether they are IN the rescue device.

My Christian friends, we can't afford to gamble with eternity. NOW is the only
safe time to come to the Lord Jesus. To the Savior who has promised to pull us
out of any and every sinful mess we may have gotten ourselves into, if we'll
only trust Him to do it. Jesus lifts that heavy yoke of sin and guilt off your
shoulders - including the guilt you feel about not keeping the First
Commandment: to love God and serve Him above everything else in your life.
What better time could there be than this to rededicate our lives to the Lord?
As St. Paul put it, "Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the
day of salvation!" II Cor. 6:2. NOW is the right time to institute a reform in
your life - you haven't got a minute to lose!

King Josiah had made his resolution to start a reform. To get right with God
again. And it's interesting to note the place he chose to carry out that decision -
the Temple of the Lord. In our country, executive decisions are made in the
White House, and legislative decisions are made in the Congress. In ancient
Israel, the seat of the executive was the royal palace. The seat of the legislature
was the city gate, where the elders of the people would meet to talk things over.
Very significantly, Josiah bypassed both these places, and went to the one place
it was proper to renew the people's commitment to the Lord - THE LORD'S
HOUSE! "And the king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of
Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem - the priests and the
prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing
all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house
of the Lord." They wanted to reform their lives, and they knew the right place
to do it! They went to God's house. The place where God was worshipped, and
where God's Word was read. Everybody went, from greatest to least, from the
king on down to the poorest beggar. They went to confess their sin. They went
to hear God's Word and receive God's forgiveness. They went to rededicate
themselves to God's service, and to REFORM THEIR LIVES.

Here, in the Lord's house, is the right place for us, too, to start a real reform.
HERE is where God's Word is preached! Have you ever seen a blast furnace?
Do you know how they achieve such fantastically hot temperatures? By piping
in pure oxygen to feed the flames. When you come to church on Sunday, your
faith is fired and inspired by the highest-octane spiritual fuel there is - the pure
Word of God. Every Sunday, that Word is preached from this pulpit. Here,
every Sunday, is where you'll get the fuel that your soul needs to keep your faith
burning white-hot. God's Law, and His Gospel. His word of repentance: "If we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And
His sweet word of forgiveness: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:8-9.

HERE is the right PLACE for us to start a real, sincere reform movement in
our personal lives. And there's something else we gain by getting together with
our fellow-Christians to worship God, and that's heat by association. It's pretty
common to hear someone object, "I can read God's Word at home. I don't have
to come to church to be a Christian." And that's true, as far as it goes. I know
I've told you this story before, but I can't think of a better one to illustrate the
point - the one about the country pastor who once went to visit one of his
members - one who hadn't been in church for quite a while. He came into the
house, and sat down quietly with the man by the blazing fireplace. The man was
expecting a sermon, but the pastor never said a word. Then, after a few minutes
of silence, the pastor picked up the fireplace tongs. He pulled one burning coal
out of the fire and laid it all by itself on the hearthstone. They sat in silence and
watched as the coal went from red-hot, to a dull orange, until finally it was cold
and black. "Don't say a word, Pastor," the man said, "I'll be in church this
Sunday, and every Sunday after that!"

Get the point? One thing our worship here gives us is heat by association!
God's house is where believers join together to praise and worship Him, and to
encourage one another in the faith. We need that heat. Without it we run the
risk of letting our faith grow cold, and die. That's why the writer to the Hebrews
said, "Let us consider how we can stimulate one another to love and to do good
works. Let us not stay away from our worship services, as some are regularly
doing, but let us encourage one another, all the more as we see the day coming
nearer." Heb. 10:24-25 - AAT.

In 1517, as a monk named Martin Luther stood at the door of the Castle
Church in Wittenberg Germany, the church was in dire need of reformation. So
Luther, with hammer and nails in one hand and the 95 Theses in the other, did
something about it. At the time of King Josiah, the people of Israel had been in
need of reformation for a long time. So they did something about it! "Then the
king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord
and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all
his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were
written in this book. And all the people took their stand for the covenant." All
of us, as well, are guilty, to some extent, of letting ourselves be sidetracked
from our service to God. Jesus has earned us forgiveness for this guilt, too. Do
you want to start a personal reform in your spiritual life? NOW is the right
TIME! HERE is the right PLACE! -- To rededicate ourselves to the Lord. To
renew the covenant of salvation with our God. Right now, right here, let's give
the answer the psalmist gave when he said, What shall I render unto the LORD
for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the
name of the LORD. Psa 116:12-13. AMEN.