Reverend Burgula VenkatRatnam

Sermon Title: Reformation: A Call for Renewal.
Occasion: 21st Week after Pentecost | Reformation Sunday – October 25, 2026. | Last Sunday in October.
Scripture Readings: 2 Kings 23:1-8; Psalm 119:25-32; Titus 3:3-8 & Luke 5:36-39.
Original Language Reflections (For deeper study, refer to the Table of Hebrew and Greek Terms in Section VII. of the sermon).
Website: www.reverendbvr.com

Theological Thesis: True reformation is not merely changing what is old, nor preserving what is familiar. It is God restoring His people through His Word, renewing them by the Holy Spirit, and reshaping their lives so that they can faithfully receive the new life revealed in Jesus Christ.

I. Introduction: When Repair Is Not Enough

There are moments when a house does not simply need repainting; the foundation needs attention. There are moments when a garden does not need decoration; it needs pruning. And there are moments when the Church does not merely need better programmes, newer technology, or more attractive worship. It needs renewal.

That is the meaning of Reformation Sunday.

Reformation is not rebellion for rebellion’s sake. Neither is it nostalgia for a supposedly perfect past. Biblical reformation begins when God exposes what has become distorted and calls His people back to Himself.

The great question is therefore not, “How can we make the Church look new?”

It is: “How can we become faithful again to the God who makes all things new?”

Our four readings answer that question beautifully.

1. Josiah: Renewal Begins by Hearing the Word (2 Kings 23:1-8):

King Josiah ruled Judah during the seventh century BC. The temple remained standing, religious rituals continued, and priests were still active. Yet beneath the appearance of religion, Judah had absorbed idolatry.

Then the Book of the Covenant was rediscovered.

Josiah gathered the people and “read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant” (2 Kings 23:2).

Notice what happens first. Josiah does not begin with politics, architecture, or administration. He begins with Scripture. After hearing God’s Word, the king renews the covenant and removes the objects associated with Baal, Asherah, and false worship.

This teaches us something uncomfortable: religion itself can sometimes require reformation.

A church may possess buildings, committees, traditions, robes, liturgies, and programmes while slowly losing the centrality of God’s Word, justice, holiness, mercy, and mission.

Josiah therefore asks us: What have we allowed to occupy God’s place?

It may not be an idol carved from wood. Our idols may be reputation, power, money, caste, status, institutional pride, political influence, or even tradition itself.

Reformation begins when God’s Word is allowed to question us before we use it to question others.

2. The Psalmist: Renewal Begins Inside Us (Psalm 119:25-32):

The Psalmist cries: “My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word.”

The Hebrew verb ḥāyâ means “to live” or “to make alive.”

The Psalmist is not asking merely for information. He is asking for revival. He knows God’s teaching, yet his soul is in the dust. That is profoundly pastoral.

People can attend church while spiritually exhausted. Ministers can preach while inwardly discouraged. Christians can know doctrine while losing joy. Faith can become mechanical.

Therefore, biblical reformation is never merely institutional. Before God reforms structures, He reforms hearts.

Psalm 119 repeatedly speaks about God’s derek, meaning “way” or “path.” The prayer is essentially: “Lord, place my feet again upon Your way.”

Reformation therefore asks not only: “What must change in the Church?”
It also asks: “What must change in me?”

3. Titus: Renewal Is God’s Work Before It Is Ours (Titus 3:3-8):

Paul takes us deeper still. He reminds Christians: “We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures.”

This language is echoed directly in today’s Collect.

But then comes one of the most beautiful turns in Scripture: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us.”

Christian renewal begins with that little word: but… We were lost, but God acted.

Paul deliberately removes human boasting: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his mercy.”

The Greek word palingenesia means “rebirth” or “regeneration,” while anakainōsis means “renewal.”

Paul speaks of: “the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

Here lies the theological centre of Reformation Sunday.

The Church does not reform itself simply through human intelligence. We may reorganise institutions, rewrite policies, improve music, update technology, and renovate buildings, yet none of these can regenerate a human heart.

Renewal is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit.

This is why the Collect rightly thanks God for saving us not because of our good deeds but because of His mercy.

• Grace comes before obedience.
• Mercy comes before transformation.

God does not renew us because we have become worthy. He renews us because He is gracious.

And yet grace produces a transformed life. Titus immediately insists that those who trust God should “devote themselves to good works.”

We are not saved by good works. We are saved for good works.

4. Jesus: New Wine Requires Renewed Vessels (Luke 5:36-39):

Jesus gives us an unforgettable picture: “No one puts new wine into old wineskins.”

In the ancient world, wine was stored in animal-skin containers. New wine continued fermenting and expanding. A hardened old wineskin could no longer stretch. Under pressure, it would split.

Jesus says: “New wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”

This teaching comes during controversy about fasting. Jesus is showing that His coming cannot simply be added as another religious patch to an unchanged system.

Christ does not merely decorate the old life. He brings the kingdom of God.

Yet Jesus’ words are more subtle than saying, “Everything old is bad and everything new is good.” Luke even preserves the saying that someone accustomed to old wine may say, “The old is good.”

Jesus understands human resistance to change.

We become comfortable with familiar patterns.

Therefore genuine Christian reformation requires discernment.

Not every tradition should be abandoned. Not every innovation should be accepted.

The real question is: Can this practice faithfully carry the life and mission of Christ?

The gospel remains unchanging, but the vessels through which we communicate and embody that gospel may sometimes need renewal.

II. One Biblical Movement:

These readings form one powerful sequence.

• Josiah says: Return to God’s Word.
  The Psalmist says: Let that Word revive your heart.
  Titus says: Renewal comes through God’s mercy and the Holy Spirit.
  Jesus says: Then become a vessel capable of carrying God’s new life.

This is biblical reformation: Word → Repentance → Grace → Renewal → Mission.

Reformation therefore is not simply an event of the sixteenth century.

The Church in every generation must continually ask whether its worship, teaching, leadership, priorities, relationships, and witness truly correspond to Jesus Christ.

III. Contemporary Application: What Needs Reformation Today?

Our churches live in a rapidly changing world shaped by technology, social media, political division, loneliness, consumerism, economic anxiety, and deep cultural tensions.

The temptation is to choose one of two extremes.

• Some say, “Change everything.”
• Others say, “Change nothing.”

Scripture offers a better way: Hold firmly to Christ while allowing Christ to transform everything that prevents us from following Him faithfully.

• Perhaps our speech needs reformation because we speak harshly online.
• Perhaps our families need reformation because screens occupy the space once given to conversation and prayer.
• Perhaps our churches need reformation when status becomes more important than service.
• Perhaps our discipleship needs reformation when Christianity becomes Sunday attendance without Monday obedience.
• Perhaps our communities need reformation when we defend doctrine but neglect compassion.

The gospel never changes. But when the gospel truly enters our lives, we must change.

IV. Practical Life Applications:

1. Return to Scripture. Read it not merely to confirm what you already believe, but to allow God to correct you.
2. Identify one personal idol. Ask what receives your greatest fear, loyalty, time, or desire.
3. Pray for inner renewal. Before asking God to reform someone else, pray, “Revive me according to Your Word.”
4. Receive grace before attempting change. Christian transformation begins not in shame but in God’s mercy.
5. Become a fresh wineskin. Ask what habit, attitude, prejudice, or tradition may be preventing you from responding faithfully to Christ.

V. Conclusion:

Reformation begins when the Word is opened, the heart is humbled, grace is received, and the Spirit is allowed to renew us.

• Josiah opened the covenant.
• The Psalmist cried for life.
• Titus proclaimed mercy.
• Jesus poured out new wine.

And today God asks us: Are we willing to become renewed vessels for His unchanging gospel?

The deepest reformation is not changing somebody else. It is allowing God to begin with us.

VI. Let us Pray:

O God of mercy and truth,
You call Your people from false loyalties into covenant faithfulness, from dust into life,
from foolishness into grace, and from hardened hearts into vessels prepared for Your new wine.

Open Your Word before us as You did in the days of Josiah.
Revive us according to Your truth as the Psalmist prayed.
Wash and renew us by Your Holy Spirit,
not because of our righteousness, but according to Your abundant mercy revealed in Jesus Christ.

Remove from us whatever has become an idol.
Reform our worship, our relationships, our speech, our leadership, and our witness.
Preserve what is faithful, correct what is distorted, heal what is wounded,
and give us courage to surrender whatever prevents us from following Christ.

Make Your Church a fresh wineskin for the life-giving gospel,
faithful to Your eternal truth and responsive to Your living Spirit.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Amen.

VII. Original-Language Word Study:

S.No	Passage	Exact Verse	Word	Transliteration	Literal Meaning	Theological Significance	Theme
1	Ps. 119	119:25	חָיָה	ḥāyâ	Live; make alive	God revives the spiritually exhausted	Reformation requires inner revival
2	Ps. 119	119:27, 29-30	דֶּרֶךְ	derek	Way/path	God’s truth directs the believer’s life	Renewal means returning to God’s way
3	Titus	3:4	φιλανθρωπία	philanthrōpia	Loving kindness toward humanity	Salvation originates in God’s gracious love	Reformation begins in divine mercy
4	Titus	3:5	παλιγγενεσία	palingenesia	Rebirth/regeneration	God gives genuinely new life	Renewal is deeper than external reform
5	Titus	3:5	ἀνακαίνωσις	anakainōsis	Renewal	The Spirit continually makes God’s people new	Central to the sermon theme
6	Luke	5:38	καινός	kainos	New/fresh in quality	Fresh wineskins must receive God’s kingdom	Christ renews the vessels of discipleship

VIII. Footnotes for Personal Study:

1. Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB 11 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988).
2. John Goldingay, Psalms, Volume 3: Psalms 90-150, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008).
3. Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).
4. Walter Bauer et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).
5. Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).
6. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke I-IX, AB 28 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981).

IX. Bibliography

• Bauer, Walter, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
• Cogan, Mordechai, and Hayim Tadmor. II Kings. Anchor Bible 11. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988.
• Fitzmyer, Joseph A. The Gospel according to Luke I-IX. Anchor Bible 28. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981.
• Goldingay, John. Psalms, Volume 3: Psalms 90-150. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.
• Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.
• Towner, Philip H. The Letters to Timothy and Titus. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006.

© 2025 ReverendBVR.com | High-Academic Sermon Series, 2026.
Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). You are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format with proper attribution. No commercial use or modifications allowed without explicit permission.
For further sermons and biblical reflections, please visit 🌐 www.reverendbvr.com/sermons