God’s Abundant Grace: A Sermon from Luther

God’s Abundant Grace: A Sermon from Luther
“Christ has created a consoling and blessed kingdom on earth when He says, ‘As my Father has sent me, so I send you.’ Here he has consecrated us all as priests for this purpose, that the forgiveness of sins be proclaimed one to another.” — Martin Luther

Luther’s thought above is permeated by the need for the Gospel to be brought to others near and far. Every Lutheran needs to read a bit of Luther. I’ve quickly translated a part of a deeply moving sermon from April 6, 1541, on Christ’s being sent and its profound ramifications for the church’s mission and everyday Christian life. Retaining and loosing sins is the church’s mission! It’s how the church is planted and built.

As you’ll see, speaking forgiveness to troubled consciences is the reason Jesus was sent by the Father. Jesus sent His apostles to speak His same words for His mission. The apostles “established and ordained” others to work with them and follow them. Pastors continue to speak forgiveness unto the end of the age, all sent by Christ. Finally, Luther says that every Christian is to speak forgiveness and absolution to his neighbor, family member, friend and acquaintance. Speak the Gospel of free forgiveness in Jesus. Give someone a Catechism; invite him or her to church. All this is how the Christ who was sent by the Father sends His Gospel to the far corners of the earth until the last day. Simple. Biblical. Apostolic. Lutheran. Missional.

This sermon illustrates the glorious abundance of God’s grace and precisely what Luther wrote in the Smalcald Articles:

God is superabundantly generous in His grace; First, through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preaching the whole world (Luke 24:45–47). This is the particular office of the Gospel. Second, through Baptism. Third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourth, through the Power of the Keys. Also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren, ‘Where two or three are gathered,’ (Matthew 18:20) and other such verses (especially Romans 1:12). (SA III IV)

Read Luther's sermon HERE or visit the online issue of Reporter -- The Official Newspaper of the LCMS