Tuesday, 31 October 2006
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Happy Reformation Day, World
This entry was originally published at Stepping in Faith
About five-hundred years ago the Church’s cage got rattled. Martin Luther, among many, helped to lead many away from a tradition-driven understanding of Christianity and into an understanding of God as Sovereign, Holy and Gracious. The God that Luther described was one who offered salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and to the glory of God alone. We refer to that time as the Reformation.
How much has the Reformation affected my life? Probably more than I’ll ever know. This is because the Reformation was not about politics or power. It was about the gospel. It was about truth. Could the free access that I received to the true gospel be anything more than infinitely valuable to the state of my entire existence? Not likely. And this may well not have happened had the Reformation not happened. Thus if the Christian God is real, and Jesus was his son – if the bible is real, and not fabricated – if salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone – if Jesus rose from the dead (he rose!) – then the Reformation has to be one of the most important events in Christian history. It just has to.
Yet even still, the battle for gospel truth is not one that we should primarily view as having been won or lost in times past, but rather, as one that is always being waged, everyday. This is because people still don’t get it – the gospel, that is. They’re all over the map, too, in their mishandlings of Truth.
People still hang themselves in their traditions.
People still don’t think they need to repent to be saved.
People still try to earn God’s love and work for their salvation.
People still look at the cross like they look at their coffee: a little tart, but culturally beneficial.
People still ask good questions, and give wrong answers.
People still use God as a means to fame and fortune.
People still hang themselves in their traditions.
So happy Reformation Day, world. Happy “I know the greatest truths conceivable” day. Happy “don’t think for one moment that life is about your traditions” day. Today we Christians celebrate the freedom of Christ through the work of his gospel. Today we celebrate the imponderable thought that by grace, he died for us, and through faith, his death atones for us, and in the end, our calling is simple; love the gospel, because God is the gospel. Love people, because God loves people. Love grace, because grace is everything. And share the gospel, because the gospel is precious, and it’s true!
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