There is a saying that states that “one picture is worth a thousand words”. How true that is on so many occasions. I first heard about the Bali explosions on the radio. The news reporter attempted to give a verbal description of what had happened and the devastation that had occurred in that otherwise peaceful and fun-loving place. However, it wasn’t until I turned on the TV and saw the pictures of the destruction, the stretchers and ambulances, the overcrowded hospital that the full extent of the situation really hit home. Those pictures described what thousands of words weren’t able to do.

A couple of years when another driver attempted to remodel the look of my car by driving into while making a u-turn, I filled out a form for the insurance company. Included in this form was a space to explain what happened in words and another space to draw a diagram of what happened in the accident. The insurance company realised that often it is easier to draw a picture of what happened.

Companies and churches have logos and if they are good logos they tell you something in picture form about that organisation. The Lutheran Church of Australia has a logo. On it you will see a large gold cross, the Southern Cross and flames of fire – that tells you something about the LCA – the centrality of the cross of Christ, the Spirit at work through the church and the location of the LCA.

There is another symbol that is found in Lutheran Churches throughout the world. You will find this symbol on the front of church buildings and halls, you will find it included in the designs of the magnificent stain glass windows of Lutheran churches all over the place (including St Luke’s). You will find it in books and printed materials that are distinctly Lutheran in origin. I am talking about Luther’s Rose. Luther devised this logo as a summary of his faith. But not only of his faith but also that of all Christians. And so this logo is displayed in our churches as a picture of the Christian faith. You might say it is a sermon in picture form. Since today’s service is dedicated to commemorating the Reformation, it’s worth looking at it because it is a picture that will take a thousand words to describe this summary of our faith. Let’s start.

At the centre of Luther’s logo is a cross. The cross of Jesus is at the every centre of the Christian faith. Without the cross, there is no Christianity.

This cross is black in colour. Black is the colour of sin and evil – the darkness in our hearts and in the world that causes so much grief and pain. John’s Gospel says, “People love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil” (John 3:19). Black reminds us of our sinfulness. “Everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence” (Rom 3:23), the apostle Paul reminds us. Black is the colour of death – sin leads to death.

When Luther was a young man he was nearly killed and the thought of dying terrified him. He was not ready to meet God the eternal Judge. And so he left all of his friends, his well paid job, his family, and wealth in his search of a way to get rid of his sin and be right with God. He entered a monastery and prayed, and fasted, and studied, constantly. But still his heart did not feel at peace with God. He always felt too sinful to ever be called into the presence of God if he were to suddenly die. He never felt confident that he would go to heaven. So he prayed, and studied, and fasted more.

But the more he studied, the more he prayed, the more questions he had and the more doubts he had about how worthy he was before God. His sin and God’s judgement terrified him.

It was fortunate for Luther that he was studying the Letter to the Romans and gained a fresh insight into 1:17: The righteous shall live by faith. He realised that a person cannot be made right with God by trying to impress God. Salvation is a gift of faith from God – faith that believes and trusts in what Jesus has done for him. Salvation is freely available to all.

This was the answer to Luther’s searching and praying. He was elated. You cannot be saved without Jesus Christ. You cannot by pass the cross. Our sin is so great that it permeates and infiltrates every part of us, including every thing we say, do and think. It is impossible for us to step aside from our sinfulness for just one moment, and save ourselves, or dedicate ourselves to God, or give ourselves to God. Without God’s intervention, we would have no hope.

And so at the centre of Luther’s Symbol is the cross. The cross is the symbol of God’s acceptance, his forgiveness, his grace. Yes, we are sinners, but by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets us free (Rom 3:23). Through faith in Jesus, our sins are forgiven, we are accepted by God, we are welcomed by our loving heavenly Father.

In Luther’s logo the cross is placed on a red heart. Even though the cross is black, a symbol of sin and death and the shame that the Son of God had to die in such a terrible way because of our sin, the heart is red because it is a living heart. The gospel of forgiveness gives life. We have been saved, given life as children of his family, recreated, reborn, given a new heart to live as God wants us to live.

The heart is a symbol of love. Not only the love that God showed in sending his Son, but for the love that flows through us. We have been renewed to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. The red heart indicates that since we are God’s children through Jesus death on the cross, this has an effect on the way we live our lives. As God’s people, we should turn away from everything that is evil and sinful and let God’s love be evident in everything we say and do. Paul says, “You are the people of God…. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another …just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:12-14).

A heart filled with God’s love is a busy, active heart. There is no room for complacency or laziness. Nobody receives the grace of God for private enjoyment. Nobody receives the gifts of God for private enjoyment. They are meant to be used to serve others.

The red heart is resting on a white rose. The white rose has been connected with the coming of the Messiah. The Christmas carol: Behold, a Rose is growing of loveliest form and grace, etc. The rose is the flower that indicates joy in the midst of the thorns of life.

And so the red heart and living the Christian life rests on the white rose. It is not easy being a Christian, a follower of Jesus in this day and age.
It is easy to be sidetracked,
it is easy to follow the crowd,
it is easy to forget that we have been called by God to be in his family and to do his work. We fail often, we confess that we have not done what God has called us to do. That is part of the thorny world in which we live.

But we experience the joy of the Good News of the Gospel, the joy of being renewed for service, and refreshed with sins forgiven and sent out again to do his work. For Luther, the rose was a symbol of this joy among the thorns of our world.

Because of the joy of knowing Jesus, our service to others is filled with joy. If we served our Lord grudgingly, it would not be service. If we went unwillingly, or with a grumbling spirit, our service would not be worth anything. True service, true worship, true discipleship reflects the joy that we have because of Christ.
What a joy to have a Saviour who loves us!
What a joy to know that our sins are forgiven!
What a joy to know that Jesus gives eternal life!
What a joy it is to be called as Jesus’ disciples in this world to pass on that love and hope of eternal life!

Everything about Jesus fills our hearts with joy. As Paul said: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

The white rose rests on a sky blue background. The sky-blue background of Luther’s logo reminds us of the promise of eternal life that we have through Jesus Christ. Because Jesus rose from the grave, we too shall share in the bliss of heavenly joy and we look forward to that day when we will be in heaven with our Lord and with all those faithful people who have gone before us. It may happen that our life takes a turn for the worst – persecution for our faith, tragedy, ill health, crippling old age, the loss of our ability to think clearly – but there is one thing that doesn’t change or decay. We look forward to entering heaven when this life is over.

The sky-blue background reminds us that our life on this earth is for only a short time. We are here and then we pass away – not into nothingness or oblivion – but into the joy of eternal life.

Around the whole logo is a gold ring around. Like a ring that has no end, likewise the joy of heaven has no end, it will go on into eternity. The ring is gold, one of the most precious metals, and so indicating that the promise of eternal life is the most precious of all. In fact, you might say, everything relating to our faith is precious like gold and we value it more highly than anything else in all the world.

So there you have Luther’s Rose; a pictorial summary of the Christian faith. It is a symbol of a faith that is just as true and relevant today as it was in Luther’s time.

The logo not only gives us an understanding of our faith but challenges us to ask:
How central is the Jesus in your life or is he somewhere around the edges?
How readily have you accepted that Jesus has cleansed you from all your sin or do hang on to your guilt?
How ready are you to give up your pet sins and obediently live as someone who belongs to God?
How willing are you serve Christ through humbly serving others?
How well are you sharing the joy of the gospel with others?
How strong is your relationship with your Saviour – or is it a somewhat casual affair?
How confident are you that when you die, you will go to heaven? Or is there some lingering doubt that you won’t be good enough?
In what ways are you letting the love of Christ effect every relationship?

Look at Luther’s logo again and see that Jesus, God’s love, a renewed heart and Christian service are central to everything that we do personally and as a church.

Confess it, believe it and live it!!

Our celebration of the Reformation, October 31^st, the day Luther nailed the 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door, is not a day to boast and be puffed up with pride, because Luther founded a new church or new religion.  No, we celebrate, give thanks to God and remember the reformation because of what God had done in using Martin Luther, as his tool, to bring to light the TRUE GOSPEL for all Christians, all over the world…not just for the German church.  The rediscovery, that ‘in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last’ is the rediscovery of Christianity itself.

 I often hear and have in the past said it myself:  ‘I am Christian first and Lutheran second.’  While this commonly said statement seems to make sense and appears to make us more accepting of other Christians.  After reflection, I believe it doesn’t actually make sense.  Let me tell you why.  To say ‘I am Christian first and Lutheran second’, is to say something like ‘I am a human being first and a man second’, in order to express equality with women; it just doesn’t make sense.  You can’t separate being a human from being a man or woman. To be a man is to be human.  To be a woman is to be human.  There is no human-ness that is before and prior to being either male or female.  To be human is to be male or female.

To be Lutheran is to be Christian; to be Christian is to be Lutheran.  There is no generic Christian-ness that comes prior to being Lutheran.  Have you ever had a nick-name?  Lutheran was a nick-name given to the Christians who followed Luther’s attempts at reforming the Roman Catholic Church.  To be ‘Lutheran’ was to be named as a Christian who believed and taught that we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone and scripture alone is the source and foundation for all doctrines of faith.

In a perfect world, where nick-names don’t stick, we would simply be called ‘Christians’, as Luke records in Acts 11:26 ‘The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.’  However, this is not the case.   We are Christians called Lutheran’s.  Lutheran’s who happen to also have as their symbol of identity, and theology depicted in Luther’s Rose.  The Luther Rose, also known as the Luther Seal, is easily the most recognized symbol for Lutheranism, and for good reason. Martin Luther personally oversaw the creation of this symbol. It provides a beautiful summary of his faith, and this is the important part, a faith that is common to all Christians, of every place and every time; a Christian symbol-like the ‘fish’.

Yesterday and today we have been watching on DVD, Bill Hybels teach us some simple techniques to help us make the walk across the room, to speak to someone about Jesus.  However, there is one major presumption made; we know a little something about Jesus and what hid did for us.  We could all learn more about justification, about faith, about the bible, about Jesus as our substitute and sacrifice, but if we waited until then, waited until we knew all we could about faith and about Jesus, before we went and spoke to someone about him, we would never start.  Perhaps that’s why many of us feel the step across the room is too hard, and we can’t even shuffle one meagre step.  We fear we might get things all wrong, or worse, they might know more then we do!!

Don’t worry, even the disciples ‘trembled with fear and never made one step across the room, because of the Jews’.  But once full of the Spirit and the truth of the gospel, they began to take large steps across many countries spreading the gospel of Jesus.  The power that changed them and the courage that ignited them to speak about Jesus, came when the Spirit opened them to the scriptures.  The Spirit received at Pentecost inspired them to know and proclaim the basics of the faith: that Jesus died for sinners; that he rose again; that the righteousness needed to get to heaven came from God himself and that faith in Jesus alone saves and makes people righteous, as the Old Testament testified ‘the righteous will live by faith.’

You have been baptised, not only for salvation and eternal life, but you have been given even more.  Not only have you been covered in the righteousness of Christ, but you, like the disciples, have received power from on high.  The Holy Spirit inspires you with wisdom and hope in the knowledge of Jesus.  To know and aspire to the truth, that our righteousness rests in Jesus and not our efforts, as Paul says ‘But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known.’  This is the true Christian gospel that Luther rediscovered nearly 500 years ago. 

 Luther’s Rose, the symbol of the Christian faith, can encourage us to make that step across the room.  It gives us an opportunity to stand on the shoulders of those who have already taken the walk before us.  It is the ideal teaching tool for faith and mission.  The Rose is simple enough to memorise, yet so profound you can never plumb the depth of its meaning for faith.  It is basic in design, yet so intricate in theology for mission, that you will never exhaust its treasures.  It is the ideal mission and outreach companion.

The cross is central to the Rose.  All faith and mission begin at the cross of Jesus.  It is the centre and core of your faith and is the power that changes lives by forgiving sin, as Paul writes ‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’  Our first step in faith and mission is to believe and confess that Jesus died to redeem us from sin, death and the devil.  The cross, which is black, etches in our mind the purpose of the cross…to put to death.  Not only did Jesus die on the cross and bore the punishment that was upon us, the black reminds us that we now die to sin; die to self and die to indulging in our sinful lusts.  It reminds us ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.’ 

How much could we talk about that or relate that to our own faith journey.

The black cross is centered in the red heart, the core of our being, to remind us that our faith is not subjective or a feeling, but is anchored in the crucified Christ, as Paul writes in Romans 10:10 ‘For one who believes from the heart will be justified’.  Luther comments ‘Although it is indeed a black cross, which mortifies and which should also cause pain, it leaves the heart in its natural color. It does not corrupt nature, that is, it does not kill but keeps alive….’  We live by faith in the crucified.  The heart, the symbol for our current life, is sustained in faith and kept alive until heaven by the preaching of the cross and the blessings from the cross, the sacrament of Holy Communion; the true body and blood of Jesus.

If we speak to some about ‘Jesus, all about life’, by learning about how Jesus gives and sustain life through his word and sacraments…we have something concrete and life changing to talk about.

The cross and heart are centered in a white rose.  Luther writes ‘to show that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace…the believer is placed into a white, joyous rose, for this faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives.’  Only the gospel of Jesus can bring this sort of joy; the joy that inspires us to tell others about him.  Only in the joy that comes from the free grace we receive in Christ, can we even begin to take a step in mission.  I can demand and urge all l like, but you will never freely reach out in mission, or even want to, if you have not first experienced the joy of Jesus’ reaching out to you from the cross, to freely open the door of heaven for you, as he said in Revelation ‘these are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut.’

All this is set in the beautiful sky blue that is incased in a golden ring.  Why blue with a golden ring?  The blue we see and experience as the sky above, is really only the beginning of the endless universe beyond our reach.  Beyond that is the gold of God’s heavenly kingdom that encases the whole created universe.  All that has happened to us so far; grace through the cross, a new heart, joy in the Spirit, is only the beginning and a down payment of what is yet to come; it is the blue of the sky.    We live by faith, in the blue that separates us from heaven, trusting in the promise of God until that day we cross from the blue of faith to the gold of heaven. 

The golden blessedness of God’s kingdom and eternal life, the gold ring that surrounds us, that is beyond us, is the comforting hope and assurance that God, through Christ, has already encased us in his kingdom. 

Luther’s Rose, from the black of cross to the gold of heaven, is summed up in just a few words of St Paul in Romans 3, ‘This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’

Wow!  What a story we have to tell!  Amen

John 8: 31-36 The search for the truth

Everyone can remember a time when we had to line up before our parents, perhaps together with our brothers and sisters, to give account for something we had done wrong; perhaps we lied about something or broke a window but denied it.  All standing in a line, dad or mum would walk up and down asking for the truth to be told; demanding that the truth of the matter be revealed so that the issue at hand can be dealt with and the wrong put right.  ‘Now what happened, which one of you did this’?

Finding out the truth and putting right what is wrong is justice; its making sure wrong is dealt with so that the injustice does not continue.  Yet as all of us are painfully aware, getting us to tell the truth is the hardest battle. Getting us to admit that we are in the wrong, can take an effort of biblical proportions!  Often we don’t want to tell the truth because we can’t or don’t want to face the reality of the truth.

I have a short clip from the movie ‘A few good men’.  Its a story about two lawyers trying to get to the truth out about a murder that happened within a military camp.  I want you to take note of the accused man’s response when caught out lying to the jury. (play clip)

‘You can’t handle the truth’.  This man justified his lies about what happened because he couldn’t face the truth about himself.  He couldn’t face the reality of what he had done and so justified his actions by blaming the lawyers, blaming the pressures of his job and blaming the system.  It was everyone else’s fault; they can’t handle the truth. 

The reality is, we who are at fault can’t handle the truth!  We can’t handle the truth about who we are before God.  We can’t handle the truth we are sinners that are going to die.  Jesus himself said ‘”I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’  And a moment before this Jesus repeated three times ‘you will die in your sins’.  Jesus is standing before those around him and he is standing before us saying ‘you can’t handle the truth.’, the reality is ‘you are slaves to sin and you are going to die in your sins.  Stop blaming everyone and own up!’  They are fighting words, and they are the words which sent Jesus to the cross to be crucified.

Martin Luther couldn’t handle the truth of Jesus words either.  He couldn’t handle the reality of his sin.  He couldn’t handle the reality of Jesus’ words ‘you will die in your sins’.  Like the army officer, like us all, he blamed everyone but himself for his condition; he even blamed God.

 I quote

‘‘Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God… I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, … I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the 10 Commandment, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel of Jesus and also by Jesus words threatening us with his righteousness and wrath’ (LW 34: 336).’

This was Luther’s struggle against God which sparked off the reformation, and often its our struggle against God.  ‘We can’t handle the truth about ourselves’.   Jesus came to earth full of the truth and he said ‘I am the truth and the life’, and he also said ‘my words are truth’.  Jesus came to tell us the truth, and the truth hurts.  Yet if we are prepared to hear the truth about ourselves, we will hear the truth about God.

In today’s reformation gospel reading Jesus says ‘If you hold to my word, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”   To be a disciple of Jesus, a Christian, means to take Jesus words as truth.  This is very important.  If we don’t hear and remain in Jesus words as the truth, then we lose the gospel; we lose Jesus and we cannot be free.  Jesus said ‘when you know the truth, then you will be free. 

The truth of Jesus words to us lay at the centre of the reformation and Jesus words are still at the centre of our confession as Lutherans.  One of the key discoveries of Luther, which paved the way for the reformation of the church, was the realization that when God speaks to us, his words are truth.  And when he speaks to us he speaks in two ways; first the bad news and then the good news; both are the truth and both are essential for salvation.

The truth of our condition is as clear and stark as Jesus says ‘you will die in your sins’.  A truth that we can’t handle and many don’t.  That is why our churches are emptying and why the prophet Jeremiah laments ‘o whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.’  It is so sad that many don’t want to hear the truth because we need to hear the truth, and handle it, because the truth of God’s word will also set us free from sin and death.

This is the good news, the other side of God’s word.  Jesus came to set us free from our condition.  He said ‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.’ When we remain in Jesus words, take them to heart and apply them to ourselves, them the words of Jesus set us free.  When we believe Jesus at his word, we have already crossed from death to life. 

This was the keystone of the reformation; we are saved by grace alone, in faith alone, in Christ alone.  Today, as you hear the words of Jesus, ‘if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed’, apply them to yourself, and take them as the truth and the truth of Jesus word will set you free. I don’t know what you need to be set free from, it is between you and God.  Perhaps its from past hurts, perhaps its from guilt from past sins, perhaps its from the torment you feel as you hear God’s word of bad news, what ever it is, hear Jesus word to you today ‘whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; he has crossed over from death to life..

The truth of Jesus words speak loudest to us in Holy Communion. Jesus is truly present in and with the bread and wine to set you free.  Hear, touch, hold onto and then swallow the words of Jesus and know they are true ‘, “Take and eat; this is my body.  “take and Drink, all of you.  This is my blood, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.’  

Jesus said ‘‘If you hold to my word, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’.  Once we understand the truth of God’s word, both bad news and good news,  then we can join with Luther and say, ‘Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.’