Reformation Tuesday 2006

"Reformation Day? What's that?" I'm sure that many people, groomed and raised within the confines of modern day evangelicalism, have never even heard of Reformation day or even know what its all about. It's okay. 4 years ago, I had absolutely no knowledge of the Reformation at all, let alone "Reformation Day." What is Reformation Day and why do we celebrate it? 489 years ago today, Martin Luther, a young Roman Catholic who was beginning to see the corruption within the Roman Catholic Church, nailed a list of 95 theses on the door of a church in Wittenburg Germany. These 95 theses were primarily concerned with the practice of giving indulgences, Luther seeing it as wickedly sinful and motivated by greed. During this period of time, Pope Leo X and the Roman Catholic empire were on a campaign to raise money for the building of St. Peter's Basilica (a modern day testament to the wickedness and greed of Rome) and in doing so, devised a way to compel the poor peasants and laypeople to give their money to the empire, thus bringing in loads of money for the project. This church raised much of the money by this means: Inulgences! Indulgences were remissions of sin (and years off of purgatory) given to specific people and their dead family members on the condition of payment to the church of Rome. You can imagine how effective this tactic would have been! These poor people, with little to no money at all, would give all that they had in the hopeful expectation of granting a close family member relief from the sufferings of purgatory. Obviously, those with more money would get a greater reward (more forgiveness, less time in purgatory), while those with little money could still purchase certain salvific blessings. It was in this context that Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of Wittenburg Church. Many people fail to realize that Luther was still very Catholic when he posted his theses. In fact, his 95 theses were dedicated to Pope Leo X, with a confidence that Leo would support his reaction and understand his frustration. Luther was let down. On that day, October 31 1517, Luther unknowingly became one of the most famous religious figures in the history of the church, igniting a controversy between Rome and her adversaries for years to come even to the present day. Why is this day so precious to Protestants, and what questions does the remembrance of this day need to spark in our hearts and minds as we reflect upon the condition of the church today? Regardless of whether you're Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Charismatic, it behooves you to recognize the central importance of this day with respect to the birth and existence of your particular denomination. Basically every denomination, religious organization, and set of beliefs which could (even loosely) be called Protestant, owes a tremendous debt to Luther and his actions on this day 489 years ago. Yet this day is particularly important and precious to those churches who still consider themselves Reformed, and who actually teach the doctrines Luther taught. I myself am uncompromisingly Reformed and rejoice in the rich heritage handed down to us by Luther, Calvin, the Reformers and Puritans (hence the name of this website). Finding Reformed Christians in this dispensational wasteland of a nation where most "Protestants" either 1) don't know a lick about Reformation Theology or 2) have no respect for Luther and the Reformers , is a pretty daunting task. Most of the church has forgotten what Protestants have historically stood for and believed, preaching a different gospel from the one Luther preached, and uniting with those of whom Luther separated from and fought against. The Evangelicals and Catholics together movement which arose a few years ago is a sad testimony to the fact that Protestants have abandoned their Reformed heritage, disgracing Luther and those who died fighting against Rome. Respected men of God like J.I. Packer and Chuck Colson joined this ecumenical bandwagon, disapointing many Reformed Christians who simply thought that their theology and thought were above that. In the attempt to become "purpose driven", many evangelicals have abandoned the very gospel itself, substituting it for a "morality driven Christianity" with nothing more than self-esteem and felt needs serving as its foundation. Recently, the emerging church movement has completely abandoned any semblence to Reformational sympathy, calling for an ecumenical unity with Rome, Eastern Orthodox, and even pagan religions. This of course is an attempt to rid our churches of "theology" because "theology divides." What would Luther have said to these wolves in sheeps clothing (like Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and Tony Jones) who blame theology for all of our problems and call for a purely social gospel to be restored in our churches? I think he would have labeled this "gospel" a "false gospel", the kind of "false gospel" that Paul himself called anathema upon in Galatians 1. And what about dispensationalsim? I tread on eggshells because I personally know many solid dispensationalists who treasure the Reformation and its impact upon the church. Yet still, dispensationalism at its core is an ethnocentric system of doctrine, focusing (sometimes almost entirely) upon the nation of Israel and the events surrounding her return to prominence that it fails to even preach Christ crucified. You know you've got a problem when you can't stop talking about the "millenial kingdom" without ever once mentioning the King Himself! With no disrespect meant towards dispensationalists themselves, I am convinced that dispensationalism tends to strip the Christian faith of the 5 solas, substituting their own emphases instead. In my mind, Luther would have been appalled by many dispensationalists of our day, saying also that this system of doctrine can lead to a false gospel. When you look at it, the church of our day has pretty much completely abandoned the theology of the Reformation. This is a call for gospel action. There is a dire need for Reformation in our country and in our world. The false gospels of ecumenicism, pragmatism, Emergent Chruch, and "Ryrian" dispensationalism, must be overcome by a force much more powerful and much more beautiful than their ugly substitutes. What is this force? The gospel itself! Let us unite around those biblical truths which Luther taught in his day and preach repentance, not only to an unregenerate world who desperately needs Christ, but also to those within our own churches who are blindly swallowing these false gospels, completely ignorant of the true gospel and those precious Reformational truths which Luther taught and cherished. The church is in dire need of Reformation. The Lord will sovereingly reform His church in His timing using the sovereign grace of the Spirit working through the Word to change hearts and minds for His glory. Let us preach the gospel Luther preached, and cherish the gospel Luther cherished, for the good of our souls, and for the glory of our King!

Sola Scriptura

Solus Christus

Sola Gratia

Sola Fide

Soli Deo Gloria!