Luther on Faith v Works

John 15:10
If you obey my commandments, you will live in my love. I have obeyed my father's commandments, and this way I live in his love.

Abiding Christ Lutheran church derived its name from the 15th chapter of John where the Evangelist wrote (quoting Jesus) " abide in me as I abide in you...". So the 15th chapter of John has always held a special interest for us as a congregation and for me personally.

Martin Luther wrote often about the 15th chapter of John. He said, "Jesus says, you are in me so remain in me, keep my commandments. For I give each of you a task, as a sign to the world that you are branches of my vine: and the task is this: to love one another, I keep this command myself so I can be an example and a model for you. I remain in my Father's love because I keep this commandment. So, if you keep it, you will remain in my love."

Luther continued, "there are two parts of the Christian teaching I need to emphasize to Christians every day; that neither Faith nor works can be ignored. When Faith isn't preached, no one explains how we remain in Christ as branches to a vine, and everyone is left to their own means. On the other hand if I teach only faith, then it leads to a bunch of fake Christians, people who get baptized and call themselves 'christian' but don't show a single fruit resulting from their faith!

This is why I find it so hard to preach sometimes, because no matter what I preach something always seems to go wrong and someone always goes off on a tangent. If I don't preach enough about faith, the result is a bunch of useless hypocrites. And if I preach too much about faith, no one does anything and the result is a bunch of useless do-gooders, well intentioned believers who don't do anything in the world. So I must preach the message to those who accept both faith and works. I preach to those who want to remain in the vine. I preach that they should put their trust in Christ and put their faith into action each and every day!