Reformation Day
Oct. 31, 2010
Rev. 14:6-7
Focused, Centered

In the name of Jesus, amen. As God’s people wrestle with all the tugs and pulls of life, as we struggle to bear up under all the demands and pressures we bring upon ourselves and that are thrust upon us, we pray and plead to God for His Reformation strength, His Reformation peace, His Reformation grace.

It is hard to keep our focus in our days because we are called to focus on so many things. There are things at home and at work and with friends that we need to pay attention to and it requires great energy. Add an unexpected car problem, a sick child or two, a deadline that has been moved up by two weeks, and our focus is shot. We run around trying to do all that is required of us and we run ourselves ragged. And then things get missed.

We find ourselves focused on issues that aren’t really important. We pay attention to people and concepts that end up taking what little energy we have and leave us empty. We do not focus on what is important, on the people that matter, on the crucial things that make our life meaningful, that add content to our day, and that help us live in true peace and harmony with the people God has placed in our lives.

Our focus is divided among so many different places that we really aren’t focused on anything.

And we have nothing that is at the center, or core, of our existence. We wander from place to place, our focus goes from thing to thing to thing and we have nothing to return to, we have no center that draws us back, no center that is a certain anchor for life. We have no focus and no center. And what I say is true for Christians and non-Christians. And what I say, my beloved, is said from experience.

We need a reformation! We pray to be re-formed, re-shaped, renewed, re-created. And we are. We have a reformation. We celebrate the historical event this day, this day before All Holy One’s, this day that is more about goblins and ghouls than about the Gospel of Grace.

We have a reformation that is ongoing. It didn’t start in 1517 with the nailing of the 95 Theses and end in 1580 with the publication of the Book of Concord. Semper Ecclesia Reformanda Est- Always, the Church is to be reforming. Always.

Find the focus. Discover the center. An angel was flying over St. John the Evangelist’s head, with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those dwelling on earth, every tribe, language, people. The proclamation task of God’s Church is the Gospel. As you’ll often see, hear, and read: Christ-centered, Cross-focused. That keeps the Gospel where it needs to be.

Just like we often lose our focus and cannot remain centered on what is important, so the Church suffers the same things. Our focus is misplaced. We do not aim at the center, but at the periphery. We do things that really don’t matter, so we look busy, but we aren’t doing a whole lot.

Christ-centered. What does this mean? It means that we are Christmas people, recognizing that our life begins where the life of Jesus began, in the manger, where gentle Mary laid her child.

It means that we are Epiphany people, laying our gifts before the Christ-child, worshiping Him for the tremendous ways He revealed His divine nature through glorious signs and miracles.

It means that we are repentant Lent people, Palm Sunday and Holy Week people too. It certainly means that we walk with Jesus as He carries His cross on Good Friday. It means that we stand with the Roman centurion and declare that Jesus is the Son of God. Being Christ-centered means that we rejoice to hear Jesus declare to the thief on the cross that today you will be with Me in paradise. Those words are spoken to us as we lay our sins at the feet of Jesus, as Jesus picks up our sins, all of our sins, our sins of greed and sloth and arrogance and puts them on His own shoulders.

With Christ in the center, we are Easter people. We rush to the tomb early in the morning and through tears of joy we delight in the gaping, empty tomb. He is not here! He is risen…just as He said! The resurrection of Christ is His triumph and ours. Satan is vanquished. Death is impotent. Sin no longer accuses. The resurrection of Christ means our own resurrection. Our death is to be regarded as sleep. Our bodies will be placed into a narrow chamber to sleep until our brother Jesus, our Lord Jesus, our Redeemer Jesus comes to us, calls us by name, and tells us to rise from sleep and enter the eternal joys of heaven.

That is what Christ-centered means. And we focus, amid all the other things in our life, on the cross. Being a Christmas and Easter person carries the eternal Gospel that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Jesus Christ came to save you and He came to save me. Jesus Christ came to save sinners, those who are inside the Church and those who are outside the Church. So our focus, our attention, is placed on the wooden cross that was planted in the ground, a dead tree that has become the tree of life.

As I mentioned moments ago, we lay our sins at the foot of the cross. Not some of them or most of them, but all of them. We give to Jesus the sins we despise and we give to Jesus our favorite, most beloved sins. We have them. The sins that make us feel good, the sins that make us feel superior, the sins that delude us into thinking that we are better than others, we give those sins to Jesus. They are nailed with him to the cross. And Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And the Father’s answer is, “Because you are sin. Because my people cannot save themselves. Because my people cannot become righteous by themselves. Because my people need saving.”

And so Jesus Christ obeyed the will of the Father, and went to the cross. And then Jesus was placed into the tomb. And then Jesus burst forth from the tomb. Because we needed saving.

And we are saved. We are ransomed, redeemed, restored, reconciled, renewed, reformed. Any other re- word you can think of.

Our focus is on the cross. At our center is Christ. This is the ongoing reformation our lives.

With our focus fixed on the cross, with our center aligned on Jesus, what do you find to be the result?

All the other things in our life become clearer. A beautiful quote from Martin Luther is when he says that when he knows that his day is going to full and busy, he spends an extra hour on his knees in his prayer.

When we acknowledge our sin and acknowledge our Savior, we find that we are able to love in a more Christ-like fashion. We are able to sacrifice for the sake of our spouse without holding a grudge, without resenting the other person. We find that we treat our children, not as objects but as little ones in need of guidance, of training. So we give up our time to spend time with them doing their math homework, listening to them recite their spelling lists, listening to them recite their memory work.

Christ-centered, cross-focused living helps us focus on the opportunities for service that abound around us. Christ-centered, cross-focused living helps us see the needs for mercy that God puts in our path.

This is the great glory of the historic Reformation. This is the great glory of the Reformation that takes place every day. Our focus is on the cross. It is the shining beacon that gleams in the darkness. The center of our lives is Jesus, who strengthens and sustains our day. Let there be a reformation, and let us rejoice in the reforming power of God in our lives. SDG