Reformation Day 2021: Be a Defender of the Faith - a podcast by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on 1 Peter 3:13-18 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 10/31/2021 in Novato, CA.















Sermon Manuscript







Five hundred years ago in 1521, Henry the VIII, King of England, was bestowed the title of the Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X of the Roman Catholic Church. That was a title the English monarchs have continued to embrace, even after Pope Leo revoked the title when King Henry VIII broke off from the church when the pope wouldn’t grant him a divorce, but I digress. But the pope gave Henry that title “Defender of the Faith” because of how he sought to defend the church of Rome against the teachings of Martin Luther and the other Protestant Reformers. Henry wrote a book titled Defense of the Seven Sacraments and it took aim specifically at Luther and his critique of Rome’s sacramental system. Just the year before, Luther had boldly written his famous treatise on that very issue, titled, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. So, King Henry defended the Roman Catholic Church these teachings of Luther. But here’s the issue. Henry was heralded as the Defender of the Faith, but it was actually Martin Luther who was the real Defender of the Faith – the true Christian faith. Henry was heralded as the Defender of the Faith, but he was actually unrighteously persecuting a righteous defender of the faith. By the time Henry’s book was published, Luther had been recently excommunicated by the pope and then declared a heretic and outlaw by the Edict of Worms by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Luther had plenty of chances to recant his views and escape much suffering and persecution. But Luther didn’t, because he really was defending the faith.







This example from history is a very fitting illustration of our sermon passage for today. Often when we study this passage, we think about it in terms of apologetics toward those who do not claim to profess the Christian faith, like to atheists and agnostics. But on this Reformation Day we remember that we also have to defend the faith against those who claim to be teaching the faith themselves. We have to defend the faith from any from within the church who would turn away from sound doctrine. Even if they are leaders in the church. Even if they persecute you and try to make it sound like you are the heretic. With this historical illustration in mind between King Henry and Luther, let us work through our passage and receive this renewed call for us to be a real defender of the faith.







Let’s begin in our first point to think of suffering for righteousness’ sake. We find that language explicitly in verse 14. The idea is found in verses 13-14 and again in verse 17. Peter begins with what is normally a safe assumption in verse 13. He asks, “Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?” Ordinarily, people aren’t going to persecute you and pester you if you are living a good and godly life. Normally people aren’t going to bother you if you are doing the right thing. And yet Peter then continues in verse 14 to acknowledge that sometimes this isn’t the case. Sometimes you might suffer for righteousness’ sake. Sometimes the enemies of the faith will try to flip the script. In their unrighteousness, they’ll call the righteous wicked and themselves righteous. In Luther’s case, how true that was. It was righteous for Luther to advocate for the true doctrines of God’s Word. And it was literally for righteousness’ sake when Luther taught that we need to find a righteousness not of our works but a righteousness which is of faith. Luther was doing the right thing to stand up for this soul-saving truth. But he was persecuted for it. He suffered because of his defense of the faith. After the Diet of Worms in 1521 when the Emperor ruled against him,

Further episodes of Reformed Sermons and Sunday Schools at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Petaluma, CA

Further podcasts by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Website of Rev. W. Reid Hankins