Martin Luther and Martin Luther King

              Martin Luther and Martin Luther King
Scripture: Romans 5.1-5; Matt. 5.43-48
Intro: Martin Luther and Martin Luther King. Martin Luther the Reformer
of the 16th century; Martin Luther King, Reformer of the 20th. Four
hundred years separates their lives, their thinking, their times. Martin
Luther was trained in the Holy Scriptures in the European tradition of his
time. Martin Luther King was trained in philosophical theology at Boston.
Martin Luther spent most of his life in his own country, Germany; while
Martin Luther King, though raised in Georgia, travelled the w orld over.
Martin Luther was excommunicated from the church as a result of his
efforts. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Martin
Luther was white; Martin Luther King was black. Martin Luther died
saddened by the state of the church and the formation of Lutheranism;
Martin Luther King was struck by an assassins bullet in Memphis Tennessee
following one of the most dramatic speeches he had ever given.
Both of these men attained the title doctor; both were of unswerving
conviction. Both men lived in a period of social upheaval. Martin
Luther lived at a time in which all of the old knowledge was being replaced
by the new. It was the Renaissance: Martin Luther Kin lived during
a time of social upheaval, disjunction and unrest.
Both enjoyed preaching, both enjoyed writing; both had love for family,
for the church, and for society. Both had metal enough to stand the heat
their positions generated. "Here I stand I can do no another," the
motto of Martin Luther, became the hallmark of the later Martin Luther
King.
If these two men were among us this morning, one would take the epistle
lesson from Romans and preach about the power of God's love; the other
would take the Gospel and tell us what that power did and does when it
begins to live in people.
I. There is only one war any of us really have within ourselves.
A. Now we express this war within many ways, give it other names,
and faces. But the essential problem with each of us our relationship
to God.
1. "Let us have peace with God." We know who is really God. We are
able to declare what isn't God. What a peace that must bring.
2. Paul is clear that it is through Jesus Christ our Lord. The
peace is one that is brought by Jesus, sent by God, a peace that
the world cannot give (it gives analgesics, anaesthetics, etc), a peace
that is a gift, a peace once given cannot be taken away,
3. My peace I give to you, my peace I live with you, not as the world
gives do I give to you, let not your hearts be troubled.
B. Through whom we have been allowed to enter into the sphere of
God's grace.
1. In Christ Jesus, through Christ Jesus, phrases used by St. Paul
almost ha a hallmark of his theology.
2. Salvation is through, and in, Jesus and because of Christ Jesus
Luther's problem was with the little cul-de-sacs created by the