The Kingdom Ours Remaineth

The Kingdom Ours Remaineth

The Festival of the Reformation (Observed) – 10/26/2025

Matthew 11:12-19

Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Brademeyer

That portion from God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our lesson from the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew in the eleventh chapter with special emphasis on verses eighteen and nineteen which read as follows:

                [Jesus said,] “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.’”[1]

Thus far the Scriptures.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Five hundred eight years ago, a monk with a troubled conscience took a hammer, a piece of paper, a deep conviction that the Word of God must not be silenced and nailed a list of  95 theses on the church door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin Luther didn’t set out to start a movement or to divide the Church. He simply wanted clarity. He wanted the pure Gospel. He wanted the certainty that sinners are justified by faith alone in Christ alone apart from works, apart from indulgences, apart from human merit.

And what followed was not the peace and comfort that one would expect from the pure proclamation of the Gospel, but conflict and turmoil. The Reformation may have been intended as  a polite academic debate, but it led to a period of violent upheaval, both spiritually and politically. The Gospel was restored to its proper place in  a world that had long been held captive by human traditions and self-righteousness.

This should have come as no surprise. Hostility to the Gospel on the part of the world was nothing new. We might think the Reformation is behind us, that such battles belong to history books. The Reformation wasn’t just a 16th-century event. It is the daily reality of every Christian. The same Gospel that set Luther free is still under attack today. And this is precisely what our Lord Jesus describes here in Matthew chapter eleven.

Violent Resistance to the Kingdom of God

Jesus says in verse twelve, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”[2] That’s a strange phrase, “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence.” What does our Lord mean?

This means that wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, wherever sinners are called to repentance and faith, there will be conflict. The old sinful nature rebels. The devil attacks. The world resists.

From John the Baptist’s fiery preaching in the wilderness who was brought to Herod’s prison, to Jesus Himself being accused of being demon-possessed and eventually being nailed to a cross, the Gospel has never been welcomed by the powers of this world. The Kingdom of God arrives not with armies or swords but by the Word. But it would be foolish to call this Word powerless, as this Word from God shakes everything that opposes it. This is the source of the violence of which our Lord speaks. The Kingdom is assaulted, and yet, it keeps advancing. It is attacked, and yet, it cannot be stopped.

Sinful hearts, the devil, and this dying world all desperately seek to cling to control and power. We appeal to self-justification, the idea that I find my place before God in my own heart and effort. We appeal to control, seeing religion as the product of personal opinions and choices. We appeal to relativism, seeing religious truth as rooted not in the objectivity of God, but in the subjectivity of individual human beings. But the Word of God, the power Gospel stands in firm, unshakable opposition to this. It destroys all self-justification, dismantles all attempts to downplay the truth, and dismisses all efforts to root the works and Word of God into the inner self.

Luther understood this well. When he stood before the emperor at Worms in 1521, the powers of the world, the Holy Roman emperor and the representatives of the papacy, demanded he recant, even on pain of death. But the Word of God had seized him. He could do no other. He said, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Here I stand.”

Despite this, the Reformation was not Luther’s triumph. No, it was Christ’s victory , the unstoppable advance of the Kingdom through this world by the power of the living Word.

The Stumbling of Unbelief

Jesus also describes those who oppose the Kingdom: “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’”[3] In other words, no matter what God does, unbelief finds a reason to reject it.

When John came with stern calls to repentance, those around him said he was too harsh. “He has a demon,” they said. He’s too stern, too strict. He’s causing trouble by calling out sin, particularly the sins of the powerful and affluent. When Jesus came eating and drinking, showing mercy and compassion, they said, “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” He’s too soft, too permissive. His forgiveness makes us see ourselves as inferior and sinful. He associates with the wrong kind of sinners.

It is no different today. People find endless reasons to dismiss the Word of God. Some cry that it is too strict, too narrow, too exclusive, too old-fashioned, too particular, too unbelievable, and on and on. The truth is, the sinful heart does not want a Savior. It wants a partner, an advisor, a cheerleader, not a Redeemer who must die for sin. For if we need a Redeemer and not merely a reformer or an encounter, we must also admit the depth of our sin and our total inability to do anything about it.

This is why Reformation Sunday isn’t about celebrating Luther’s courage, or embracing German heritage, or even triumphantly sharing church history. It’s about the ongoing call of Christ to repent and believe the Gospel. It’s about the Lord rescuing His Church from self-righteousness, false security, and unbelief. The Reformation wasn’t just a 16th-century event. It is the daily reality of every Christian who lives by the Word because the Gospel that Luther risked his life for is the same Gospel that is still under attack by those who seek to add to or subtract from it in order to make it manageable and pleasing to sinful hearts.

The Wisdom of God Revealed in Christ

Jesus ends this passage with this line, “Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”[4] That is to say, the truth of God’s wisdom, which is found most especially in the holy Gospel, is proven by what it accomplishes. The wisdom of this world cannot save us from sin, death, or the rule of the Devil. It only binds and burdens. But the wisdom of God, Christ crucified for sinners, brings forgiveness, life, and salvation despite the interference and opposition of this world.

        What are the “deeds” of God’s wisdom? The preaching of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. The washing of rebirth in Holy Baptism. The body and blood of Christ given and shed for the forgiveness of sins distributed in the Lord’s Supper. The sinner justified freely by grace through faith. These are the marks of the Reformation, not because Luther invented or discovered them, but because he restored them to their rightful place at the center of the Church from the teaching of the Apostles and Evangelists who composed Holy Scripture.

The wisdom of God is not human reason, not moral achievement, not intellectual pride. It is the foolishness of the cross, and that foolishness is our forgiveness and life. As St. Paul says, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”[5]

The Reformation Continues

Dear friends, the work of the Reformation continues wherever the Gospel is preached in its purity and the Sacraments are administered rightly. It continues wherever sinners are set free from the tyranny of works-righteousness and hear again the sweet words: “Your sins are forgiven.” It continues in your homes when parents teach their children the Catechism, when husbands and wives forgive one another, when believers cling to Christ’s promises even in suffering. The Reformation is not history to be set in a museum to admire. It is a living reality because the Word of God is living and active. In other words, the work of the Reformation is the same work of the Christian Church in every age, to give Christ to those in need, to deliver His gifts, and to ensure that troubled consciences find peace in Him.

The Word will continue to suffer violence, our adversary the devil will continue to rage, but victory is already secure in the shed blood of our Lord Jesus.

As Martin Luther wrote in his hymn A Mighty Fortress:

“The Word they still shall let remain,Nor any thanks have for it;He’s by our side upon the plain,With His good gifts and Spirit.And take they our life,Goods, fame, child, and wife,Though these all be gone,Our vict’ry has been won;The Kingdom ours remaineth.”

And so, dear Christians, the Reformation is not over, not because we need something new, but because the same living Word keeps reforming us in the everlasting truth of God. Every time you gather here to hear His Word and receive His body and blood, you are part of the continuing work of the Reformation. The Lord is still reforming His Church not by new ideas, but by returning us to the old, eternal Gospel.

The Kingdom Ours Remaineth

Christ’s Kingdom still stands. The violent may attack it; the world may mock it; the devil may oppose it, but the Gospel remains and will continue to do so. Why? Because it doesn’t depend on us. It depends on Christ, who died and rose and reigns forever.

On Reformation Sunday, we do not look back in pride, remembering the glory days of Lutheranism. No, we look upward in faith. We confess that the same Lord who strengthened Luther also strengthens us. The same Spirit who opened the Scriptures to the Reformers still opens our hearts today.

We stand not on tradition, not on heritage, not on emotion, but on the Word of God alone.

And so we preach Christ crucified, for sinners like us, that the wisdom of God may be justified by her deeds: by the forgiveness, faith, and life that come through Him alone to dear forgiven saints like you.

Conclusion

Saints of the Lord, blessed and holy ones who have been covered in His saving blood by faith, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, but Christ has already won by dying on the cross. But this victory is not simply to show His power or sovereignty, no, He won for you. He defeated sin, death, and the devil for you. He shows His victory to you by His Word and His empty Tomb. And because He has won, you are free. Free from sin. Free from the power of the grave. Free from a troubled conscience. Free from the rule of the devil. Free in the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ which is our most precious treasure and our greatest joy. And all of this is yours not by traditions of men or works under the Law, but by the perfect and everlasting work of Jesus Christ, your Savior, your Lord.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Matthew 11:18-19 English Standard Version. All further quotations from the Holy Scriptures are from the ESV.

[2] Matthew 11:12

[3] Matthew 11:16-17

[4] Matthew 11:18

[5] 1 Corinthians 1:18