Reformation Sunday
October 26, 2025
John 8:31-32
The Heart of the Reformation:
100% Faithfulness to the Word!
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Dear fellow heirs of the Lutheran Reformation,
How good is good enough? How accurate is accurate enough? How faithful is faithful enough? Think back to when your children were in school. If your child brought home their report card were you satisfied with C’s (that is, after all, the “average” grade), or did you work with your child and encourage your child so that next time the C’s become B’s or perhaps even A’s! Would you be satisfied with 99.9% accuracy when it comes to the things in your every day life? Yes? Well then, if 99.9% accuracy were accurate enough for you then consider this: (These numbers are from 2023, but they are the most recent numbers I could find.)
- 119,760 income tax returns will be processed incorrectly this year.
- 144 incorrect medical procedures occur daily.
- 110,600 mismatched pairs of shoes will be shipped this year.
- 18 babies will be given to the wrong parents each day.
- 23,666 defective computers will be shipped this year.
- 22,792 pieces of mail mishandled in the next hour.
- 2,434,300 books sent in the next 12 months with the wrong cover.
- 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions written in the next 12 months.
- 56,700 checks deducted from the false bank accounts in the next hour.
- 567 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year.
- 315 entries in the most recent Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language (unabridged) misspelled.
- 69 malfunctioning ATM’s will installed in the next 12 months.
- 810 commercial airline flights would crash every month.
- 880,000 credit cards in circulation will turn out to have incorrect cardholder information on their magnetic strips.
- Two million documents will be lost by the IRS this year.
- Two plane landings daily at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago will be unsafe.
That is just a small example of what you and I would need to be willing to accept if 99.9% accuracy was “good enough” for us!
Every year, my friends, you and I pause to celebrate the Lutheran Reformation. Out of all the Sundays in the church year this Sunday is uniquely “ours.” While other Protestant church bodies may indeed have Reformation celebrations the true heart and core of the Reformation can only truly be appreciated by a church which upholds the historic Lutheran teachings. Why? That is what we are going to explore today as we study these words from John chapter eight. While the Lord Himself has used the Lutheran Reformation to give to us many many blessings, over and above them all we need to remember this: The Heart of the Lutheran Reformation is 100% Faithfulness to the Word of God!
There are, of course, many Christian churches which boldly proclaim the “fundamental” teachings of the Bible— specifically the precious message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this we are to be grateful. Unfortunately, many if not most Christian churches today have steadily wandered further and further away from the clear proclamation that the Bible is the holy, inspired, inerrant Word of God from beginning to end. As a result, there are Christian churches today which are actually supporting, condoning and in some cases even promoting teachings and lifestyles which are completely contrary to Scripture! In many cases you and I as Lutheran Christians are fighting the very same battles which Martin Luther fought over 500 years ago! Or perhaps to be even more accurate we should say that as Lutheran Christians you and I are still fighting the very same battles which our Savior fought over 2000 years ago!
Our sermon text for this Reformation Sunday takes us back to a time in Jesus’ public ministry when some very sharp lines were being drawn in respect to the Rabbi from Nazareth. In John 4 we are told that many Samaritans had come to believe in Jesus as the Promised Messiah. In John 6 we see that while huge crowds of thousands of people gathered around Jesus because of the miracles He performed (see 6:2) many of those same people now “turned back and no longer followed him” because His teachings were too hard for them to accept (see 6:60).
The words which we have before us this morning then are words that were spoken to a very specific group of people. John tells us that these words were spoken “To the Jews who had believed in him.” Now that is an extremely important truth for us to remember. This truth reminds us that only those who have been given the gift of saving faith in their heart can truly understand the importance of Jesus’ statement, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” While different people may have different ideas as to what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ, the Lord Himself gives us the criteria for true discipleship right here in our text. A true disciple of Jesus is one who “holds” to Jesus’ teaching!
The Greek word translated here in our text as “hold” very literally means, “to sojourn, to tarry as a guest, to lodge, to survive, or to live.” This is the very same word which Scripture uses to describe how God the Father “lives” in the Son (John 14:10) and how God the Holy Spirit “lives” in us (John 14:17). It is the very same word which Jesus used when He said to His followers, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you” (John 15:5,7).
Remaining in the Word, sojourning through the Bible on a regular basis, making the Scriptures a familiar lodging place in our daily travels, being committed to 100% faithfulness to the teachings of our God— that is what Jesus is talking about here in John 8:31! And that, my friends is one of the greatest hallmarks of the Lutheran Reformation! Sola Scriptura! (Scripture alone!) As Lutheran Christians when the Lord says, “This is MY Word! Do not add to it and do not subtract from it!” we say, “Amen!” As Lutheran Christians instead of trying to rationalize or distort the parts of the Bible which we don’t understand, instead of deleting or simply ignoring the parts of the Bible that our society no longer wants to accept we follow Paul’s advice and “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). And as Martin Luther once said, “There is no jesting with God’s Word. If you cannot understand it, then take your hat off to it.”
Since this is Reformation Sunday permit me share with you a little longer quote from Martin Luther. This quote very clearly reveals to us that the heart of the Lutheran Reformation is indeed 100% faithfulness to the holy Word of our God. In 1525 Luther said in a sermon, “It is the duty of both preachers and of hearers first of all and above all things to see to it that they have clear and sure evidence that their doctrine is really the true Word of God, revealed from heaven to the holy, original fathers, the prophets and apostles, and confirmed and commanded to be taught by Christ Himself. For we should by no means ever let doctrine be manhandled according to the pleasure and fancy of the individual who adapts it to human reason and understanding. Nor should we let men toy with Scripture, juggle the Word of God, and make it submit to being explained, twisted, stretched, and revised to suit people or to achieve peace and union; for them there could be no secure or stable foundation on which consciences might rely.” Isn’t it amazing how something which Martin Luther wrote 500 years ago describes our “modern day” situation to a tee!
It is that last point which Luther made, my friends, the point about our consciences needing a secure and stable foundation, which ties in perfectly with the second verse of our text, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” When we strive for 100% faithfulness to the Word of God that is when we have the security and the confidence of knowing that we have the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth! If we were willing to accept the Bible as being 99.9% true or if we were to say that we only had to remain 99.9% faithful to the holy Scriptures then we would be giving Satan all the room he needs to chip away at the foundation of our faith until eventually he may even cause our faith to crumble! Isn’t that exactly what he did in the Garden of Eden when he said to Eve, “Did God really say…?”
Ask yourself, what would you be willing to give up if the Bible were only 99.9% true? What would you be willing to give up if we only had to remain 99.9% faithful to what is written here in this book? Would you be willing to give up the Creation account of Genesis chapters one and two? After all, Creation doesn’t seem to have all that much to do with our eternal salvation, does it? Well, if you were willing to give up just those two chapters of the Bible then consider this: you would have to call Moses a liar, you would have to call great King David a liar, you would have to call the prophet Isaiah a liar and you would have to call the Lord Jesus Christ Himself a liar! Why? Because Moses and David and Isaiah and Jesus all make reference to the Creation account of Genesis chapters one and two as being historically true! And if Moses and David and Isaiah and Jesus lied to us about Creation— what else might they have lied to us about?
If the Bible were only 99.9% true, if you only had to remain 99.9% faithful to the holy Scriptures would you be willing to give up the virgin birth of the Christchild? Would you be willing to give up the substitutionary sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross of Calvary’s hill? (Pointing to the cross) The physical resurrection of the dead? The tremendous comfort and security of the Sacrament of Holy Baptism? The Real Presence of the Lord’s body and blood in the Sacrament of Holy Communion? Would you be willing to give up the clear Scriptural teaching that was brought back into the limelight through the Lutheran Reformation, namely, that we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone and by Scripture alone? If the Bible were only 99.9% true, if we only had to remain 99.9% faithful to what God has revealed to us here— what part of the Bible would become “expendable” for you?
When by the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to say that the Bible is the Truth then, my friends, then we are truly free! We are free to love and to serve our merciful Savior God! We are free to love and to serve our fellow human beings! We are free from the power of sin, death and the devil! We are free to live and to love, to enjoy and to rejoice because the Truth of the Bible enables us to trust the Lord God of heaven and earth! And when in simple, humble, childlike faith we take the Lord at His Word, our God will surely smile down upon us. Again, as Martin Luther once said, “There is nothing more beautiful in the eyes of God than a soul that loves to hear His Word!”
One hundred percent faithfulness to the Word. In a nutshell that is the heritage which you and I enjoy as heirs of the Lutheran Reformation. May God graciously grant that we not only treasure our Lutheran heritage, but may God also grant that we will now earnestly strive to do whatever is necessary to hand this very same heritage down to our children and to our grandchildren.
To God be the glory!
Amen