« What I want; what I need | Main | Random 20 Meme »
October 31, 2005
Happy Reformation Day
I attended a Christian school from Pre-school through 12th grade, then went right to Covenant College. We did the faux-Halloween too, and by the time I was in college I was a little Reformationed-out. I'd roll my eyes and say, "It was the 95 theses, not the 95 thesis."
I knew everything. (Wasn't that a dramatic paragraph break?)
But this year I'm thoughtful. Husband and I watched Luther Saturday night, and I really enjoyed the movie. (Though I was dismayed when, in his interview in the DVD extras, Joseph Fiennes seemed to think the whole purpose of Luther's life and action as depicted in the movie was to promote individual freedom, when his lines clearly indicated Luther was acting out of submission to Scripture. Sola Scriptura and all that. Poor Joseph doesn't get it!) And Pastor Roop preached a good sermon last night, emphasizing purposefulness behind celebrating Reformation Day as more than just a "non-Halloween costume fall festival." Here are some highlights:
---------------------------------
2 Timothy 3:10-17: You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
An R. C. Sproul quote from the most recent Tabletalk: The modern church is threatened by the shortsightedness of severe myopia. (I've been looking for this quote and when I find a specific reference I'll update this entry. In the meantime, I'm sorry. It was a really good quote.)
A key question: Why don't we pay more attention to those Christians who ran this race before us? We act as if all things are new. There seems to be no room in our lives, and in our churches, for history, for old things, for old songs, for remembering the past.
Luther addressed two issues:
- Authority. In other words, he addressed the formality of the Roman Catholic Church, its authority, and its power over individual Christians' lives.
- Soteriology. Soteriology, or the study of salvation, especially in regards to the doctrine of justification and how that's accomplished. One way to understand justification in relation to authority. Is justification accomplished by God and described in Scripture, or is it accomplished by papal decree, by groveling before and venerating relics, by purchasing indulgences in your own name or in others' names (deceased or alive!), by trusting in Church Councils' decrees?
Luther made his famous quote ("Unless I am convinced of error by the authority of Scripture.... On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.") based his conviction on Scripture alone, and eventually laid the foundation for the Reformation principle Sola Scriptura.
From the text (2 Timothy 3:10-17), we can learn several things.
- In order to stand up to those who question what you are preaching:
Timothy should remember and follow the example of those who have gone before. Timothy was to remember the example of Paul, his mentor. Stand for Scripture even in the midst of immense pressure! - Timothy should stay true to convictions built into life by his mother, grandmother, and Paul.
We learn about the origin and purpose of Scripture:
- Origin: from God. ("All Scripture is God-breathed...") "God-breathed." The source of Scripture has three doctine-textbook definitions:
A. Organic inspiration: God did not possess the writers of Scripture and mechanically move their hands; he did, however, inspire the writers. We can trust God's sovereignty in the lives of the writers to the farthest extent possible. God planned every word of the Scriptures (they are trustworthy!) but did not do that in the "possession" method.
B. Plenary inspiration: All the Bible, in all its parts, is inspired. There are no parts of the Bible that are 'less' inspired than others.
C. Sufficiency: All we need is there. It's certainly not all I want, but God has given me, and all of his children, all we need to live Godly lives. We don't need to add anything! - Purpose of Scripture (...and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.")
A. Teaching. Scripture gives wisdom, salvation, and faith in Jesus Christ. It's a handbook of salvation. It alone teaches us how men and women who are sinners can be saved. How are we saved? Through faith in Jesus Christ. Scripture also teaches us doctrine. The content of the church's doctrine comes only from Scripture, and not from any other source. (This was part of what Luther was upset about! The Roman Catholic Church was using teaching besides Scripture to guide its doctrine.)
B. Reproof. When God's people go wrong in their doctrine, lives, faith, or anything else, we are corrected by Scripture. That's what Scripture says about itself: it's useful for reproof!
C. Correction. When we are on the wrong path or living in a wrong way, Scripture corrects us, and is sufficient. [We've been listening to a sermon series on The Matthew 18 Reconciliation pattern. This point relates to those sermons, and I'll most likely blog about that too. It's fomenting in my head these days.]
D. Training in Righteousness. Our doctrine and lives should be in line with Scripture.
------------------
So, as I was saying, I'd been Reformation-Celebrationed-out. Sometimes the silly fall festivals churches hold do seem like nothing more than a sanctified version of the dress-up-and-go-get-free-candy way of celebrating everyone else does, with the added bonus of knowing that the candy the fall festivals hand out is safe to consume. But here's another thing I like about my church, another way I'm being challenged by the teaching and fellowship there. The teaching and fellowship challenged the cynicism in my heart surrounding this aspect of American Reformed Christianity.
My $0.02 | By The Newest Worker | 11:42 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://chattablogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/27030
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Happy Reformation Day: