WEEK 11 Are We Reformers or Conformers?

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1 WEEK 11 Are We Reformers or Conformers? What? Living like Luther What made the Reformers so special? - There were ordinary men - They weren t born into wealth - They came from relatively good homes - They all shared a deep love for the Word - They were not BORN Reformers A few thoughts to consider - What if these men had not stood up? - What if they had not spoken up? - What if they had gone with the flow? - What if they had not been men of the Word? - What if they had chosen to conform? Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt. Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent. Proverbs 17:28 Too many of us have been lulled into silence We are afraid to speak up We lack confidence in what we believe A culture of conformity - Conformity is the new face of Christianity - But it was true in the 16th-Century as well - The vast majority of people living in the Holy Roman Empire had compromised action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices, etc Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX 1

2 - But we have been called to live like Luther (and the other Reformers) You ask me what I shall do if I am called by the emperor. I will go even if I am too sick to stand on my feet. If Caesar calls me, God calls me. If violence is used, as well it may be, I commend my cause to God. This is no time to think of safety. I must take care that the gospel is not brought into contempt by our fear to confess and seal our teaching with our blood. I ask you whether now, when the blessed Savior is mocked, we should not fight for him. I write this candidly to you because I am afraid you hesitate between Christ and the pope, though they are diametrically opposed Martin Luther, in a letter to Frederick, the Elector of Saxony If I were not sure that the gospel is on our side, I would have given up. All the sorrow I have had is nothing compared to this. I would gladly have paid for this with my life The Devil is at work in this. As for myself, my gospel is not from men. Concessions bring only contempt. I cannot yield an inch to the Devil. The Devil knows I would have gone into Worms though there were as many devils as tiles on the roof Martin Luther, in a second letter to Frederick the Wise The war rages on - The gospel remains under attack - Satan is still at it - And we are combatants in the war whether we realize it or not Words of warning from the lips of Jesus John 15: Notice the number of times He uses the word, if - It s normally condition if/then - But His use of the word, if in these verses is an IF where all the conditions have already been satisfied - They are already fulfilled - This isn t about potentiality, but reality If the world hates you (and it does) Because It has hated me before it hated you If you were of the world (but you re not) Because I have chosen you out of the world Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

3 the world would love you as its own (but it doesn t) Because you are not of the world Therefore the world hates you - This is the bottom line - It hates Jesus and it hates you - Concessions bring only contempt - Compromise won t make the world love us If they persecuted me (and they did) they will also persecute you If they kept my word (and they didn t) they will also keep yours But they will do all these things to you (persecution) on account of my name (Jesus Christ) Because They do not know him who sent me - Jesus came to reveal the way to a right relationship with God I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him! John 14:6-7 NLT If I had not come and spoken to them (but He did) they would not been guilty of sin (but they are) Therefore They have no excuse for their sin If I had not done among them the works that no one else did (but He did) They would not be guilty of sin (but they are) Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father (it happened) They hated me without a cause (and they hate us) The world hates you because it hates the gospel - The gospel points out man s sin 2017 Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX 3

4 - It demands the need for a Savior - It portrays man as helpless and hopeless - It eliminates man as his own god But we have a love affair with the world Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:15-17 NLT Remember Luther s quote: This is no time to think of safety. I must take care that the gospel is not brought into contempt by our fear to confess and seal our teaching with our blood. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT - Conformity to the world is the opposite of conformity to Christ desiring it s praise more than God s making more of man than Christ seeking temporal satisfaction over eternal promises allowing someone else to stand for the truth Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

5 HOMEWORK: WEEK 12 DOES THE REFORMATION STILL MATTER? Well, this is it. The final week of our series on the Reformation. As we wrap it up, we are going to end with an emphasis on whether the Reformation is still pertinent for today. If you re like me, you ve probably learned a lot. You ve discovered some church history you never knew before. But is that all we get out of this look back at the 16th-Century? I think there is a lot more for us to glean as we come to an end of the series, and my hope is that our final week will leave us with a renewed zeal to know what it is we believe and to understand that the Reformation of the church is an ongoing endeavor. The church has not arrived. We are far from perfect and there are still many things going on within the contemporary church that need to be examined and, possibly, reformed. The church, Jesus told us, is capable of withstanding the attacks of hell itself. He said the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:17-19) But that infers that the gates of hell will be attempting to prevail against it. The enemy hates the church and all it stands for. He hates those who make up the church. Read Matthew 16: What do you think Jesus is saying to Peter about the strength and sustainability of the church? What does the gates of hell attempting to prevail against the church look like in everyday life? How do you see it happening in the morning headlines, TV news, and on the Internet? 2017 Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

6 2 To wrap up our study, I want you to spend some time in the book of Revelation. I know, that doesn t seem to make much sense on a study of the Reformation, but I think you ll figure out where I m going. Read the following passages and write out beside each one how these various churches were in need of some form of reformation. Also, write down how the church of today mirrors in some way each of these churches Revelation 2:1-7 The church in Ephesus: Revelation 2:8-11 The church in Smyrna: Revelation 2:12-17 The church in Pergamum: Revelation 2:18-28 The church at Thyatira: Revelation 3:1-6 The church at Sardis: Revelation 3:7-13 The church at Philadelphia: Revelation 3:14-22 The church at Laodicea: Be sure and read the attached article by Peggy Pederson, called Does the Reformation Still Matter Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

7 Why the Reformation still matters by Peggy Pedersen On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. If that hammer could have announced the seismic changes to come in Europe and the Christian Church, its echoes would have shook the world. Today, however, it is hardly more than a whisper. For many Protestant churches, it has been like the telephone game, where a little was added here, a little changed there, a little taken away somewhere else. The general population has now moved into a post-christian era, where differences in Christian theological tenets matter less than choices on the restaurant menu. So is the Reformation still relevant today? We could rephrase the question in this way: Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ still relevant today? For that is what the Reformation was about: the salvation Christ won for the world. In proclaiming justification by faith alone, through God s grace alone and not by our own merit and works, the gates were opened for millions to know God s mercy. The Reformation was about the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ which is why the Lutheran church s first name was Evangelical, coming from the Greek for good news. Sola fide I came to the Reformation backwards, having been a Baptist and then a Presbyterian. After a long and winding road trying to merit divine mercy, God sent a Lutheran preacher to speak to me the message of grace: By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). The words had the same force and power they did when Luther rediscovered them, for one simple reason: they re not Luther s words; they re God s. This first principle of the Reformation we call sola fide: faith alone. Lutherans teach that we add nothing to salvation; Christ does everything. If we do not stand firm on this point, Luther taught, all is lost. The Christian gains salvation through faith alone. This does not mean that we put our faith in our faith, but rather that our faith relies on God s promises and what Christ has done for us. In Christ, we find assurance of salvation something we could never have if we had to look for sufficient sincerity, repentance, or prayer in ourselves. Instead we cling securely to the promise of Christ: Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die (John 11:26). Sola gratia The second principle of the Reformation, also drawn from Ephesians, is sola gratia: grace alone. The established church was quite happy to acknowledge the role of faith and grace in salvation, of course. It was that little word alone they couldn t stand. To claim no works were necessary for justification seemed to fly in the face of reason. Many people in Luther s day believed God justified the righteous ( good people ) and damned sinners ( bad people ) to hell. But Luther found in Scriptures this truth: God justifies sinners, purely by His own free will, solely based on what Christ has done. God did not save those who were trying to do their best or who were the most improved, but instead those who came empty-handed or not empty handed, but with hands full of sin. Luther said we are saved by sheer grace. For Luther, the Scriptures were clear: justification is 100% Christ and 0% us, and any attempt to increase our percentage is heresy. For Luther, the Scriptures were clear: justification is 100% Christ and 0% us. Solo Christo This leads to the next principle, solo Christo: by Christ alone. Jesus said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). Luther s theology was grounded in the incarnation. Christ s incarnation His becoming 12 THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN September/October 2012

8 human was necessary for our salvation. He lived, died, and rose again for us. The entire Bible is a revelation of Christ, and it is in Him that that God desires to be known. In Christ, God has hidden in plain sight, revealing His desire to save mankind. He puts off His heavenly glory, is born of human flesh and dies naked, nailed to a cross to save us. And so we rely on Him, not ourselves, knowing He did not come to show us the way but to be the Way for us. God transfers Christ s perfect righteousness to us, taking away from us the sin we inherited from Adam. There is no way to obtain Christ s righteousness except by being united to Him in faith. He did not come to show us the way, but to be the Way for us. Sola Scriptura The other sola is sola scriptura: Scripture alone. This doesn t mean that we should throw out all tradition. Some early reformers tried to do that, but Luther taught us to keep those traditions which are scriptural. Other traditions may also be kept, he said, if the congregation and church wanted them, so long as they did not contradict Scripture. What the teaching of sola scriptura did was set God s Word above all earthly authority, including the Pope s. It confirmed that Christ is head of the church, and it is His Word, not our interpretation of it, that must be the judge of truth. The Word of God interprets itself. Scripture must be read as a whole, not extracted as proof texts out of context. That s why we follow the Lutheran Confessions: because they agree with Scripture. God s Word is alive and active. Through it, the Holy Spirit works to convict us of sin: this is the Law. It leads us to repent of all the things we are and do that displease God. But the Bible doesn t leave us in despair: the Gospel Word speaks forgiveness and comfort to us. The Gospel is that Christ is for you He loved you and gave Himself for you. He accomplished everything necessary for your salvation. When Christ died, He said, It is finished. The Reformation Lutheran knows there is a period at the end of that sentence. So what? The teachings Lutheran theologians have handed down to us are precious treasures not because of tradition but because they are the true doctrines of Christianity. If you look at our Confessions, you will see references to Scripture over and over again. The authors knew that, if something contradicted God s Word, then no THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN September/October

9 matter how beautiful, ancient, impressive, and reasonable it may appear, it is not pleasing to God. The Reformation matters because the reformers were proclaiming God s unchanging Word. So what can the Reformers teach us today? The Reformation focuses us on the true mission of the Church. The Church is God s kingdom, and it is where He bestows His gifts on His people. It is where His Truth is proclaimed. Sermons must not just talk about Jesus, but deliver Him. When we lose sight of this, we can become confused as to our purpose. We are drawn to adopt the marketing model of business, the numbersmodel of mega-churches, the social service model of charitable institutions, or, worst of all, to feel we need to update our doctrine and practices to meet the changing philosophies and mores of the world. Christ has told us that we are to be in the world but not of it. We can learn from the Reformation the importance of using media to spread the Gospel, but always remembering that it is the Holy Spirit creating faith in human hearts through His Word, not our methods. Above all The Reformation taught us we must, above all, know and cling to God s Word. All who depart from it lose their way. In our age there is a great falling-away, with many paths offering enticements and ease. The path of the cross appears bitter, and many turn aside to follow paths that seem sweeter, more culturally acceptable and tolerant, yet are lifeless. Lutherans, having learned that biblical truth is often in paradox, know that the path of glory leads to sorrow and the path of the cross leads to joy. Every other religion teaches we must bring something to the table merit, love, works, obedience, improved lives, or sincerity. The result is either pride or despair. But Lutherans call out No! Salvation is a totally undeserved gift from start to finish! God gives even the faith to believe and accept it! We must continue proclaiming this, not only in our Confessions but also in how we worship and in our daily lives. If we cease, the Word of God will not cease. But it will pass us by, a relic of our former selves, and instead be put on other tongues, or the stones will cry out: Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Solo Christo! Here we stand; we can do no other. We simply have the best news anyone can hear. Like an Olympic baton, the gift of God has been passed on to us from God through our forefathers in the faith. We are called to take up where they left off: to learn, proclaim, defend and pass along the faith to our generation and the next, because it is not the doctrine of men but the pure Gospel of Christ. The relevance of that is beyond measure, for the treasure itself is beyond measure. Soli Deo Gloria. To God alone be the glory! That which you have, therefore, hold fast until I come (Revelation 2:25). Peggy Pedersen is a freelance writer in Victoria, B.C., where she is a member of Redeemer Luthrean Church. The Reformation taught us we must, above all, know and cling to God s Word. 14 THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN September/October 2012