Sermon from October 26, 2025

Sermon: Reformation and 80th Anniversary of University Lutheran Church

Revelation 14: 6-7

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

The text for our meditation is the First Lesson for Reformation, Revelation 14:6-7. Many people at the time of the Reformation chose this passage as a good description of the work of Martin Luther. He was not literally an angel, but the word “angel” also means a “messenger.” Angels often carried messages from the Lord to people, including the great Christmas message, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

It was that eternal Gospel, that eternal Good News, centered in Christ Jesus as Savior, that Martin Luther finally learned for himself and to share with everyone he could. He was asked to teach the Bible at his university. He had often felt guilty and unworthy before God, and as he read and studied Scripture and the Law of God, including the 10 Commandments, he knew clearly why he felt that way. He actually was a sinner who fell far short of God’s will and desire for him, and he could not be good enough and make himself acceptable to God, no matter how hard he tried.

That’s why, in our text, we also hear the angel, the messenger of God, also saying with a loud voice, “Fear God… because the hour of His judgment has come.” Martin Luther felt that fear, because he had tried becoming a priest and doing what his church said and going on a pilgrimage to Rome and doing other good things and even beating his own body to try to suffer for his sins - but none of that worked, and he felt no peace or forgiveness. And he knew that a popular idea of his church at the time was wrong - that you could buy your way to God and heaven by paying enough money by indulgences - that could not work, either.

But finally, as Luther read and studied the Word of God more and more, he found his answer in Christ Jesus. Jesus Himself said, in our Gospel lesson for today, in John 8:31-36, “If you abide, if you continue in My Word,… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Yes, as Jesus says in this Scripture, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” and you can’t set yourself free from sin. Luther had tried. But then comes the truly Good News - “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus is pointing to Himself, the Son of Man and the Son of God, as the only Savior from sin.

Then Luther began to see this Good News again and again in Scripture. Our Epistle lesson for today, Romans 3:19-28, is a prime example. Yes, this Scripture says again, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “by works of the Law, no one will be justified in God’s sight.” But then Paul tells us that what saves us is not our righteousness, but “the righteousness from God” coming to us through the gift of His own Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life for us, in our place, and “redeemed” us, paid the price that freed us from the condemning power of our sins - and did it by the “propitiation,” the big word that means the sacrifice of His blood and life on the cross to forgive us and allowed us to be counted acceptable to God through faith in Him, faith worked in us by Him and His Holy Spirit. That’s why Paul could end this Epistle lesson with these words: “Then what becomes of our boasting (in ourselves for our salvation)? It is excluded… For we hold that one is justified by faith in Christ, apart from works of the Law” or any of our efforts.

This was the truly Good News that Martin Luther discovered in Scripture and boldly proclaimed in his preaching and teaching - and put in the common language of his own German people, so that they could understand and believe in Christ, too. Here are the three great “Solas,” the “Alones” of the Lutheran Reformation - that we are saved by the grace of God alone, His undeserved love and favor for us, coming to us as a gift, through faith in Christ alone and His saving work for us, as proclaimed by Scripture, God’s Word alone, as the foundation for what we believe.

But this was not just Good News for Martin Luther’s time. It was Good News to be proclaimed, as our text says, “to every nation and tribe and language and people.” Jesus had said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching” (Matthew 28:19-20). And He had prophesied, “This Gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

And so, in 1945, some leaders of our Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod District and from the only close Lutheran church in Lafayette, worked together to start a Lutheran campus ministry at Purdue. Purdue was growing, and people were coming back from World War II and wanted to get a good education, but also needed the same Good News of Christ and encouragement in Him through the Word of God and the Sacraments. And that ministry has continued to this very day, for 80 years.

In one sermon, I can’t begin to talk about everyone and everything, but remember that in all these years, the most important figure has been our triune God Himself, the creative and loving and saving Word and work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In those 80 years, the Lord has worked through six full-time pastors (and I am one of those - that’s why I am speaking today), and a seventh pastor beginning his work and being installed here next weekend; eleven vicars, seminary students who served here for a year, as part of their training to be a pastor; two international pastors, who helped part-time for some years, when our District encouraged us to reach out also to the many international students at Purdue - a Chinese pastor originally from Singapore; a Korean pastor who lived in Chicago; and then a DCE who worked in Chinese ministry through our church and Redeemer Lutheran, and later went on to become a pastor, himself.

Serving students has always been our priority, and all these people helped our students to be the church here and develop as leaders here and to try to think in a Biblical, Christ-centered way about their vocations and their future. So many have done well in their jobs and work and have become leaders in their congregations and communities, too. Quite a number have found their spouses here, as well - a life-long blessing, and some students were “church mice,” living free in the church in exchange for doing some work. Numbers of our students have also become Lutheran pastors and some Lutheran school teachers and deaconesses and university profs, helping others, as they have been helped. Some of our best supporters and encouragers through the years have been these Purdue alums, too.

And we can’t forget about parents and families, who were so concerned about their young people’s physical and spiritual welfare, and prayed for them and us, and helped where they could. And there have been faculty and staff at Purdue who have become members and helped us and our students in amazing ways, and others who supported us from their positions on campus. And we are so grateful to our own town members who like to be among students and are willing to take more of a back seat and let students do as much as possible. They provide stability and financial and other help and support during Summers and breaks, when there aren’t a lot of students around, too.

University Lutheran has also been a mission congregation of our District all these years, supported also by gifts from our about 230 congregations. The District owns our building and property (4 locations through the years) and has the final say about major decisions, but for the most part, that has worked well, as we work together. And being a mission church has reminded us that we need to be a church and people in mission to others, ourselves, with God’s love in Christ.

You may not know, but in the early years of University Lutheran, the pastor and vicars and other area leaders helped start three missions - a church in Crawfordsville, where Wabash College is located, a church in Greencastle, where DePauw University is located, and a town congregation right here in West Lafayette. There was a sense that if Purdue students needed ministry, so did the students and people of other college communities. We’ve helped with other missions and sponsored several mission trips to Ysleta Lutheran in Texas and Mexico, and summer camps, and other places. We’ve helped provide food for the needy, meals for the homeless, and did all sorts of social ministry projects through the years and still do them today.

As a result, we have also had Purdue grads who served our Synod in mission in Ghana and Thailand and Liberia, and we sent out their mission newsletters for them. Another grad has served in Japan and other countries in mission, and a Purdue-related person is now helping with some translation work in Taiwan for the Lutheran churches there. And for many years, our congregation sent back 20% of our regular offerings to District and Synod and seminary and other mission work.

I had the privilege through the years of baptizing and/or confirming quite a number of US and international students, including some who had grown up within an hour of University Lutheran but had hardly ever or never set foot in a church. And it was almost always not me who tracked them down, but a fellow student who invited them to come and see and learn and encouraged them until we could get them into an adult instruction class, and the Lord brought them to faith through His Word and baptism. A Korean student walked into my office one day and said that he had Korean friends who were “falling through the cracks” of a large Korean church near campus. Could we do something to help them? That’s how our Korean ministry at that time started - not by my initiative, but by a student. You don’t think of a fraternity as a mission center, but almost every year, there were students interested in our Lutheran fraternity and invited to worship and became Lutheran believers in Christ, over time.

In short, what Martin Luther was called to, in our text for today, is still our calling as a church today - to proclaim the eternal Gospel of Christ and His love with as many people as we can, of every background, so that we do not glory in ourselves, but give God the glory and worship Him and receive His Word and Sacraments, and then share His gifts of love and forgiveness and eternal life, with others.

Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord (Philippians 4:7), and may the Lord continue to guide and bless our mission and ministry in the days and years ahead. Amen.