Did you know that although the Germans are a people of only 80 million, their economy is ranked the 4th wealthiest economy in the world? Financially they are behind the juggernauts of the United States and China, but those countries have a population of 300 million and 1 billion respectively. It is commendable that the German economy is so prosperous with so few people. Despite their relatively small population, the Germans continue to be among the world’s leaders in critical industries especially those based on mechanical engineering. Part of the success of the German people can be attributed to a characteristic that is common among many, most, possibly all Germans. Germans are inherently stubborn.
Have you ever been in an argument with a German? I don’t recommend it. I myself am about 25% German, that is just German enough to start an argument but not nearly German enough to win an argument, at least not when arguing with a full-blooded German. I have started an argument with a full-blooded German before and I thought I had logic and reason on my side, facts and figures at my disposal but still at the end of the argument somehow, I felt like I was the looser. Why? Because the German I was arguing with stubbornly refused to admit she (or he) was wrong.
Germans are stubborn. So, it ought not surprise us that a church body founded by a German would likewise be stubborn. The stubborn German I am referring to is of course Martin Luther. Today we are celebrating Luther’s Reformation because on October 31st, 1517, Luther nailed 95 Theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Now, nailing the 95 Theses to the castle church door may have ignited the spark of reformation but truth be told it was an unassuming action of an academic. If you really want to know the heart of the Reformation, then you must follow Luther to the city of Worms where in 1521 Luther stood trial before Emperor Charles V and Pope Leo X. These men were the two most powerful people on the planet, and they exercised that power like a pair of gods. Indeed, they seemed to have a god complex. One of them even went so far as to call himself “the vicar of Christ”.
Luther was summoned before these gods of his age and was told that if he didn’t bow before them and stop teaching people that salvation was a gift of God’s grace then one of the gods was going to kill him and the other god was going to damn him. And here is where you see the stubbornness of this particular German most clearly. Luther replied, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have often contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen." You almost feel sorry for the Spanish Emperor and the Italian Pope who engaged in an argument with this German monk. Indeed, I would feel sorry for them if they were not acting as the pawns of the devil who’s works-based religion was depriving God’s people of the gift of God’s grace. Not only was Luther German, but he had the Word of God on his side. There was no way he was going to bow down before the gods of his age.
Luther stubbornly refused to bend a knee before the gods of his age and as a result, 500 years later, the Luther church celebrates the Reformation. But Luther was not the first man who stubbornly refused to bow before the gods of his age. 2,000 years prior to Luther’s reformation three young men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before king Nebuchadnezzar: the god of their age. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were brought to Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem in 589 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar instructed the “chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace.”[1] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fit that description better than most and soon found themselves appointed “administrators over the province of Babylon”[2].
For a time, all seemed to go well for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that is until Nebuchadnezzar decided to build a 90-foot-tall golden statue of himself. To say that Nebuchadnezzar had a god complex is a bit of an understatement. He once had a dream about a statue with a golden head silver chest, bronze belly, iron legs and clay feet. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the golden head, and the rest of the statue represented the rise and fall of various kingdoms of the earth, but that God was setting up a heavenly kingdom that would never be destroyed. Well, all Nebuchadnezzar heard was that he was the golden head and that, as you might imagine, went straight to his head. As a result, Nebuchadnezzar decreed all the people of the earth should bow down and worship his golden image. However, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, knowing this was the number one thing the LORD their God had forbidden His people to do, refused to comply with the king’s decree.
Furious with rage Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to appear before him. Nebuchadnezzar threatened them, ‘if you do not bow down and worship my golden statue, “you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?””[3] In reply, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego demonstrate a level of stubbornness that would cause a German to concede. They replied to the king, “16… O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Again, you almost feel sorry for Nebuchadnezzar. Not only do Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to apologize for their actions but they respectfully tell Nebuchadnezzar his question about “what God will rescue them from his hands” doesn’t dignify a response. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are so stubborn that not only do they refuse to bow before the god of their age but they won’t even discuss the matter with him. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stubbornly refused to bend a knee before the god of their age.
Luther was not the first man to stubbornly refuse to bow before the gods of his age and, my friends, he must not be the last. Should you dare to call yourself a Lutheran, and I mean a real Lutheran not one of those so-called Lutherans who have sacrificed the Lutheran Confessions on the altar of the anti-Christ, rather, if you dare to call yourself a real Lutheran then you must further dare to act like a real Lutheran. You must stubbornly refuse to bow down to the gods of your age. You must not bow down to the gods of commercialism and greed! You must not bow down to the gods of sexual promiscuity and gender perversion! You must not bow down to the gods of evolution and humanism! You must not bow down to the gods of tolerance and acceptance! You must not bow down to the gods of apathy and neglect! You are Lutheran, and whether or not you hail from German descent, you have a reason to be stubborn, you have the Word of God. You know what God says about the gods of your age. You know what Luther knew, what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew, you know it is not possible for you to bow down.
But you should also know a stubborn refusal to bow down to the gods of your age is not going to be easy. It wasn’t easy for Luther, and it wasn’t easy for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Luther spent the rest of his days as a wanted man and an object of ridicule and scorn. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego arguably had it worse. Nebuchadnezzar made good on his threat. “19… He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual 20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.” I am not so dramatic as to suggest that any of you are in danger of being thrown into fiery furnace. However, I am also not so naïve as to believe you will not suffer for being a stubborn Lutheran. You risk having your Facebook page frozen for being a stubborn Lutheran. As a stubborn Lutheran you will likely be called closed minded, bigoted, and ignorant. And while these words may not burn like the flames inside a furnace they still sting, especially when they are said to you by people you care about. It is even possible that being a stubborn Lutheran will interfere with your job or cost you a promotion. Being a stubborn Lutheran may even cause you to lose a friend or strain a relationship with a family member.
It is not easy to be a stubborn Lutheran, but you have no choice, God’s Word is clear, you must not and cannot bow down to the gods of your age. Thankfully the strength of your resolve does not come from your German heritage or your church membership. Rather, the strength of your resolve comes from your God. Take another look at the words Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego spoke to Nebuchadnezzar. They said, “the God we serve is able”. The God Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego served is the same God you and I serve, and that God is capital “A” able. Perhaps, for them, the greatest example of God’s ability was when He rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and delivered them from death by parting the Red Sea. Perhaps, for us, the greatest example of God’s ability is when He rescued us from our slavery to sin and delivered us from death with an empty tomb. Regardless of the kind of crowns the gods of all ages might wear, our God is able to protect us from them. You can be stubborn in the face of the gods of this age because you have a God who is Able.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted in their God’s ability to protect them from the flames, but they further confessed, “18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Our God is sovereign. He is neither constrained by the commands of kings nor is He coerced by the concerns of their subjects. Our God is free to do as He wishes. Thankfully for you and me, according to Romans 8:28, His wish in all things is to do good for those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. That means our God is free to use both blessings and hardships to do us good. Whatever the gods of your age might do to you, your God is free to work it out for your good. You can be stubborn in the face of the gods of this age because you have a God who is sovereign.
Finally, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told Nebuchadnezzar, Our God “will rescue us”. Our God saves. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that Nebuchadnezzar may be able to flay their flesh, but he could not singe their souls. They had the confidence of Job who once confessed, “25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.”[4] This confidence belongs to you as well. God, your savior, rescued you from the curse of sin with the sacrifice of His one and only Son on the cross. God, your savior, declared you to be His own dear child through the cleansing waters of baptism. God, your savior, continues to feed your faith through the feast of forgiveness we call the Lord’s Supper. God, your savior, guides and directs you to your heavenly home through the proclamation of His Word. You can be stubborn in the face of the gods of this age because you have a God who saves.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow before the god of their age and even though they were thrown into the fiery furnace “27 the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.” Luther refused to bow before the gods of his age and even though one threatened to kill him and the other threated to damn him, on February 18th, 1546, Martin Luther died of completely natural causes and was given a seat at the banquet table of heaven. None of these men had assurances from God that they would be spared persecution or pain and neither do you. God may choose to spare you as He spared them, or He may not. But either way it doesn’t really matter because our God is able, our God is Sovereign, our God saves. Therefore, we must not, and we will not bow down before the gods of our age.
Luther was not the first man to stubbornly refuse to bow down before the gods of his age and by the grace of God he will not be the last. May the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the God of Martin Luther, the God whom we serve make us all stubborn Lutherans. Amen.
[1] Daniel 1:3-4
[2] Daniel 2:49
[3] Daniel 3:15
[4] Job 19:25-26