Romans 3:19-28 Reformation Sunday                                           
St. John, Galveston 10/25/26
 “The Quest for Holiness”  
Rev. Alan Taylor
 
+ In Nomine Jesu +
 
Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.
 
    Today we are observing Reformation Sunday. Reformation Day, of course, is October 31st, which falls on a Saturday this year. This morning’s message is based on the Epistle reading from Romans 3, where St. Paul distinguishes so clearly between a righteousness based on God’s Law, and one based on the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

    “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as (an atoning sacrifice) by his blood, to be received by faith.”
 
    In many ways, the Lutheran Reformation was a quest for holiness. Oh, you could substitute some other words for holiness, like righteousness, or even the love of God. Luther was on a quest for all of these things. Ultimately though, he was on a quest to get out from under the damning condemnation of the Law and to find acceptance, even love, in God.
 
    I’ve entitled this morning’s message “the quest for holiness.”  There are generally two ways that people seek to achieve holiness in life, at least, according to human standards. I’d like to illustrate those two ways and then contrast them with God’s way.

    The man had his own understanding of atonement, of what it would take to be right or acceptable in the sight of God. Early in his life he had come face to face with the righteousness of God. Consequently, understood just how repugnant his sin was to God. The righteous God sits in heaven and looks down on his creation and he sees nothing but rebellion against him.  Sin, no matter how great or small, must be a stench that lingers in the nostrils of the Almighty. God says, act right, think right and be right. And yet, no one does as God says.  

    In one way or another, our sin has to be dealt with. The man knew that. His diagnosis of the problem was correct! It was his cure that was wrong. Early on he vowed that he would spend the rest of his life trying to make satisfaction for his sin. He would wear a heavy linked chain around his neck as a reminder of his rebellion against God. The chain would also serve as punishment and as a righteous attempt to show God that he really wanted to do better in life. Each time the man became aware of a particular sin in his life, he would add another link to the chain. 
 
    Early on the chain was burdensome to bear, but it was manageable. He could still walk and function under the weight of it. But, as he grew older the chain became heavier and heavier. So heavy, in fact, that no one man could hold up under it’s punishing weight. He had an entourage of servants who carried the chain wherever he went. Oh, he still bore much of the weight himself, but the servants made it so that he could at least move about and function during the day. Still, his life was a living hell, burdened as he was by the weight of that chain and the sin it symbolized.    
 
    The Quest for Holiness is usually of two types. The man with the chain around his neck illustrates the first type pretty well. He believes God is holy and righteous. He believes that his sins are real and that they alienate him from God. But, he believes that he can do something about it. He can make it right! He can atone for his own sin! Again, the diagnosis of the problem is spot on, it’s the cure that’s all wrong. 
 
    In his quest for holiness another man sees sin as a flaw that corrupts some people, namely the really bad people, but not him. He’s the self-righteous Pharisee who sees himself right in God’s eyes. He is the one who says “I thank thee my heavenly Father that I am not like other people, thieves, murderers and the like.” He doesn’t really strive for God to love him, because he doesn’t see why God wouldn’t love him. God’s goodness, His mercy and forgiveness, is for those who really need it, for those who have nothing to offer God but a life of sin and corruption.     
 
    Early on in his life, Luther had chosen the first of those two paths to holiness. Like the man with the chain around his neck, he did everything he could to make God love him. He joined a monastery because, at that time, the Church said it was the best way for a penitent sinner to be certain of God’s grace. Luther believed what the Church taught and he committed himself to his quest for holiness with incredible conviction.   
 
    By all accounts, he was a good monk. In fact, at one point he said “if anyone could have earned heaven by his monkery, it was I.” He fasted. He prayed. He even beat himself without mercy in order to bring his heart, his body and mind into subjection to God’s will.  
 
    Still, He knew that God was righteous and that he was a sinner. How would he ever expect to stand before God on the Day of Judgment and not be condemned? What would he say to God on that last great day, that day when God expected him to give an account of his life? Why, Martin, didn’t you act right and think right?  Why did you sin against Me?  Why did you live as if you were your own god?
 
    Luther finally recognized that the Roman church applied the Law to hapless souls quite well, but they were stingy when it came to the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. According to church doctrine, repentance was to be followed by the appropriate penance, perhaps the recitation of a few prayers, or the giving of a few coins into the church coffers. Restitution was the only way to God. Still, even in doing penance, one could not but dream that God would find him or her acceptable. God’s love was hard to earn and it was impossible to be certain that one had earned it.    
 
    It’s into this sort of hopeless quest for holiness that God’s word said to Luther, and to each us today, STOP!! STOP SEEKING YOUR OWN HOLINESS, YOUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS!! “(The Scriptures tell us that) the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
 
    Today there is a reformation of sorts that goes on within each of us. In Holy Baptism, God has brought each of you from death to life. As such, you see yourselves for who you really are. Perhaps in thinking of the man who carried the heavy chain around his neck, you sometimes feel that way too. And when you’ve most needed your burdens lifted is when you’ve most often insisted on finding ways to carry them yourself. And yet, your quest for holiness came to a glorious end when Christ found you and claimed you in the water of Holy Baptism, when He cleansed you and washed the stain of sin from you.   
 
    Oh, it was a marvelous miracle that God worked for you. At the cross, He clothed Himself with your sin, that you might be clothed with His holiness and righteousness. And in Holy Baptism, He brought the blessings of His cross to bear in your life! Just as in the Lord’s Supper, He gives you the fruits of the cross, namely forgiveness, life and salvation, through the reception of His holy body and blood. It is a marvelous miracle that God worked for you and in you. My friends, your quest for holiness has come to a glorious end. Jesus has claimed you as His own. Therefore, He is your holiness, and it’s through Him, that God loves you with a love from which you cannot be separated.  

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.
 
+ Soli Deo Gloria +