All for the Glory of God
Psalm 47 and 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Reformation Sunday – Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
October 26, 2025
by Pastor Jane Shelton
Psalm 47 reminded me of one of those children’s songs we learned to sing in our early years in church. You know the ones where you lined up in front of the congregation, and as you sang, you had all the movements to go with it. Clap! Shout! Sing! Blow the trumpet! Sing! Sing! Sing!
It’s one of those readings that makes you want to move with the reading, even dance. And it is all for the glory of God who is highly exalted and rules all the earth.
While we Presbyterians are not always comfortable with clapping, it was a sign of celebration and triumph. We can still praise God with joyful clapping of praise and with the idea that our clapping signals our belief in God’s reign.
Shouting can signal many things, such as a battle cry and joyful praise. Kings were often greeted with a shout and the sound of a trumpet.
All these actions are expressions of celebration, joy and praise to proclaim God’s sovereignty over all the earth and his love for the peoples.
As we move into our New Testament scripture, we are reminded of all that we have considered over the last few weeks with Paul urging Timothy and other followers to remember whose they are as God’s chosen, and the role they play in spreading the gospel, regardless of their fate for doing so.
Last week, Paul exclaimed the responsibility to be an evangelist so that all might know Jesus as the Son of God, the one who died and was resurrected by God. The One that because of his death and resurrection, secures for us an eternal rest with our Lord.
We Presbyterians are not too comfortable with the word “evangelize.” Perhaps this is due to how it has been used in recent years. I want to try and bring some clarity to the word.
Evangelize means to preach the gospel or to talk about how good something is.
If we think that evangelizing is not Presbyterian, then we have an unhealthy or misguided understanding of the word.
Let’s consider a few examples of those who have evangelized in the New Testament. John the Baptist certainly loudly announced the coming of Jesus, the Son of Man. Jesus himself evangelized the Word of God, and the love of his Abba Father.
Starting with the difference in these two examples gives us an idea of the differences in the way one can evangelize. John the Baptist had an urgent desire to get people’s attention so that they didn’t miss the One to come, and he often did so in radical ways, like shouting.
However, Jesus, in most cases, evangelized through conversations by simply talking with people one on one, in small groups, and in preaching to larger groups.
The disciples that followed used a variety of ways including conversations and preaching, although Paul has now become more like John the Baptist as he ramps up the urgency for the others to spread the gospel because of its importance for all to hear.
The Reformers were strong evangelizers in their day, and we can be thankful for their very meaningful work that brought about the Protestant faith we still observe today.
If you were able to attend Generations of Faith this morning, you heard a great history of just a few of the great Reformers.
As was the truth of Jesus’ time, the rulers sought wealth through the church while God’s message from the Prophets of old was construed and used as a vice to lord over people, rather than teaching the true meaning of the love of God for all people. The wealthier became richer and the poor were oppressed.
Fast forward to the era of Reformation, and we see a similarity in what was happening with the Roman Catholic church abusing their wealth through church indulgences as people were oppressed.
An indulgence was a written note of forgiveness provided in exchange for payment.
The Reformers began to speak out against this, saying, “No!” this is not the message of the Word that has been provided by God, and Martin Luther boldly nails his 95 Theses on the church door to explain that forgiveness of sin was a divine act of God.
Luther argued that true repentance involved inner spiritual repentance, and indulgences led Christians to omit genuine sorrow for their sins and argued that a pope or priest could not forgive sin except through the declaration and power by God.
By this time, the printing press has been invented making it easier to get out copies of the Bible, and for the first time, people begin to not only hear the Word of God, but they are able to read it as well.
This powerful moment in history, along with the new message of the Reformers, causes the Word of God and the good news of the gospel to spread like wildfire.
Zwingli, Knox, Calvin and many others begin preaching and conveying their messages, and as a result, religious wars break out between kings and in France from the 1400s through the beginning of the 1700s.
The Reformers spread into other countries to escape persecution and death, and John Calvin, a French theologian known as the Reformer for Presbyterianism, ends up in Geneva, Switzerland where he dedicates his life to writing and preaching.
Recently, Dick and I were able to travel to Geneva with Flint River Presbytery, and we visited St Peter’s Cathedral where Calvin preached.
Unlike the painted ceilings and walls filled with murals and gaudy décor of the Basilica and Cathedrals of France, St Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva was very plain with modest stained-glass windows.
Calvin’s pulpit faced the seating of city officials in the Cathedral, so they could be sure to hear the words he preached. Calvin preached as many as eleven hours per day.
As our tour guide explained, Calvin preached and wrote with an unshakable belief that Scripture is true and authoritative because scripture is the inerrant Word of God.
Calvin made it known that the Bible was not a subject for the power of the church, rather a tool for faithful Christians to be shaped and devoted to God’s Word, not opinions of popes, priests and religious protocols.
Calvin, and others like him, carried the urgent message that Paul left for Timothy to pass to other generations.
Many of the Reformers were abused and killed for their standing up for the truth of God’s Word, the same as Jesus, early disciples, Paul, and many others that followed in Paul’s footsteps. Yet, the Word of God continues to spread from generation to generation because in each generation there are people who continue to to evangelize; or in other words, people who talk about how good God is and spread the good news of the gospel.
Our tour guide talked with us about the Protestant Reformation and Calvin for about an hour and half. There is a lot I remember from that conversation, but the words that spoke to me that have repeatedly rang loudly in my mind and my heart, were words that have rested deep in my soul.
He said, “Calvin made it clear, everything that he did was all for the glory of God.”
Calvin came to Geneva in 1509, although he was expelled for a brief time, he returned in 1541. His academy was founded in 1560, and he continued to teach and preach until his passing in 1564 at the early age of 54.
Calvin’s greatest and best-known work, Institutes of the Christian Religion, has never been out of print and is available today in print and online. It has been translated in many different languages and is one of the most influential documents, not just in the period of Protestant Reformation, but in all of church history.
He stands with others on the Reformation Wall in Geneva, and he is depicted holding an open Bible in his hands with his fingers firmly inserted in the Old Testament and on top of the New Testament making sure to reflect the importance of the entirety of God’s Word.
Calvin wrote, taught and preached, not to gain recognition for himself, but he did it all for the glory of God, and he believed all of life was to be lived for the glory of God, not for wealth or power to be gained by a few.
On this day we remember the Protestant Reformation and give thanks for the lives of the Reformers who, like John Calvin, sacrificed all for the glory of God.
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE
God of mercy, hear our prayer. We pray for the church in every place, that wherever people gather in your name, you enable us to listen to each other with open hearts. Give your people unity, O God; replace pride with reconciliation. We pray for all peoples that their paths and ours lead to greater understanding of the goodness of faith in its many languages and forms. We thank you for this earth in which we live, may we be grateful for your gifts so that we protect what we have been given, rich soils, clean waters, and abundant sunshine. Reassure us, O God, that you desire good for your world and all the people in it, and that your provisions are sufficient. Inspire us with a commitment to share with others, especially those who seek safe shelter, those who are hungry, those who have been abused, and those who long to know your love. We pray for all who suffer from illness of any kind, and we pause now to remember and pray for those who are on our minds ______________________________________________________________
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God of eternity, we know that all days are redeemed and held in your grace. We remember with honor and gratitude all those whose lives have enriched ours, and whose faith have given shape to our own. May the hope of resurrection remain forever alive within us as we say together the prayer Jesus taught his disciples….Our Father, who art in Heaven…….
BENEDICTION
Go in peace, remembering all who have sacrificed so we can be in this holy place today.
May God the Father,
Jesus Christ the Son,
And the Holy Spirit
Bless and keep you.