A Pound of Cure

Seriously though, today as we celebrate the Protestant Reformation, as powerful and influential, praise God, as it was, it was never meant to be a once and for all-time event. The Church as a whole and as individual parts of the Body should always be reforming. History teaches us that it is dangerous if we are not. 

As I study church history, I am continually blown away by just how wide-spread the Reformation actually was, over many countries and many years, through many saints of God from all walks of life. 

Officially beginning this day 506 years ago after Martin Luther pounded his 95 thesis into the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. ( Although some historians report he actually used glue; however, when I glue anything, I always still give the thing glued a firm pounding for good measure. ) 

The points listed in the thesis are the heartbeat of the Reformation; however, the arteries spread thickly around the entire world pumping lifeblood back into not only the Church, but all of humanity, giving the glorious Gospel back into the hands of the "common folk." 

Before this time people relied on church leaders to read and expound the Scriptures to them. Without a copy of the Bible, bishops and other church leaders could paraphrase the Scriptures and move them in any direction they chose, inflicting ungodly fear into hearts instead of the true gospel. 

"I defy the pope and his laws!" proclaimed William Tyndale to a church bishop who had informed him that it would be better for the people to have the pope's law than God's, "If God spares my life," Tyndale continued, "In a few years a plow boy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do." 

Praise God those word would ring true. 

Some think that what happened during the Reformation was a breaking away from the true church to start another religion - Protestantism. This could not be further from the truth. 

The church leaders had become caught up in immoral as well as financial scandals selling indulgences to people under the false teaching that their money would spring their loved ones out of a life of suffering in purgatory, that their money could buy forgiveness. 

"May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money."  ( Spoken by Peter in Acts 8:20 ) "Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." ( Romans 1:32 ) 

As Luther wrestled with his sin and guilt and the church's teachings on salvation, God broke through to him by the power of the Holy Spirit as he read the Gospel in the Book of Romans revealing to him the truth: Salvation is not grace plus the works you must add to it, your self-righteousness, your filthy rags, but salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. To add to Christ's salvation would be to take it away. 

The rest is history. The most important discovery that emerged from the Protestant Reformation was the rediscovery of the Bible - the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Luther reminds us when we have the integrity to wrestle with God and his Word, asking him our questions, refusing to give up, repenting of our sins, crying out to him, wonderful things are revealed. 

The Church leaders were not dividing the Holy Word of God rightly. They were obscuring the Gospel from the people, adding to it, not handling it with fear and trembling or reverence. They were not tending the Flock entrusted to them with truth and love. 

What else could the Church do but protest? 

Jesus said that he would build his Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. We can look back through history and trace his handiwork. It was not a coincidence that the rediscovery of the Gospel coincided with the invention of the printing press. And those printers burned the midnight oil ( and ink in this case ) to keep up with all of Luther's tracks explaining and teaching the Gospel, justification by faith alone, and the Five Solas, Scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and glory to God alone. 

The printers produced thousands of copies of God's Holy Word. ( Now written in the people's language, and not Latin. ) Imagine the freedom the people felt as they read the Good News for themselves, or the many illiterate having family or friends read it to them as they sat and listened to the beautiful Story of God, his redemption through the sacrifice of his Son alone, walking out of spiritual darkness and into the Light as hearts were opened to the Truth. 

And yes, Protestants have also done and continue to do ungodly things in the name of God, and this is sinful and not what Jesus taught. Violence should never be a means of spreading the Gospel. And this is exactly why we can't allow ourselves to drift for a second, but always be about our spiritual disciplines, practicing the discerning of spirits, ever vigilant to see that we are dividing the Word rightly and proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

We don't need to pound the Gospel over people's heads - but we must never stop pounding it on every church door. 

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." ( Romans 1:16 & 17 ) 

Happy Reformation Day! 💜