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| The doors of the Castle Church at Wittenberg |
A certain monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis's to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.
I have seen quite a few sources today saying that this act was done in "protest." It was not. The church doors in that day were a focal point. The doors were a place where notices and questions could be placed for all to read publically. From what I have been taught, Martin Luther placed his ideas there for discussion, not realizing the firestorm that would follow.
So today here we sit. 500 years later on October 31, 2017. Why is this still important?
Five centuries have passed. What could possibly still be relevant today? Well... as any of our Lutheran pastors would tell you, they "preach Christ crucified for our sins."
This is no simple statement. Christianity is the only religion in the world that teaches salvation by a mechanism where we have no part in it. Scripture tells us that all that is done for our salvation is wrought by the grace of God, through faith instilled in us by the Holy Spirit, in Christ who was blameless and died for our sin.
Out of all of the notations, sermons and summations of Martin Luther none are of greater import than salvation by grace. If we were to work any act toward our salvation then Christ's death is of little value. All of our sin was placed on Him and He alone took God's wrath for our sin and died.
So what does this mean today?
Twenty one years and a few months ago, I sat in a pew at Our Savior Lutheran Church attending my first Lutheran Church Missouri-Synod service toward the end of Lent. I was pretty much at that point a lifelong Baptist. Don't get me wrong. I had learned a lot from the Baptist high school I had attended and even more from quite a few others along the way. But I was always hounded internally by the expected salvation experience. I know I believed. That was really never in doubt, but I always was left filling that I needed to be MORE reverent... MORE favorable... more... Christian. I never really felt that I was doing my part. I never felt good enough.
As I sat there and heard the Nicene Creed for the first time (yes... the first time), and I experienced liturgy for the first time... the bell rang. Things were different after that. It was not very long before I was in the adult version of Catechesis and learning more fervently than ever before. That emotional salvation experience that I had been told I would have never really came but instead that longing was replaced by a joy and assuredness in my salivation that no longer waxed and waned.
The Word did what the Word does. It works miracles. Not earthly ones as some television evangelists claim. I did not become rich in things of the world. My life did not become perfect. I remained and still remain a poor miserable sinner who still has woe occur in his life. The miracle that is worked is that of eternal life. Many Christians expect life to be perfect once the "become" a Christian. It just does not work that way.
I am saved through water and the Word. The Word was made flesh and was crucified. The Word died. The Word rose again on the third day and ascended into Heaven. The Word sits at the right hand of the Father and will come again in glory. I taste salvation in the very body and very blood of Jesus Christ given and shed for me and all I can say is "mea culpa, mea culpa mea maxima culpa." For I know what I am.
But I also know what I am made into in Christ. I am a baptized child of God.
He was called upon to explain himself and his teachings several years after nailing his items for debate upon the doors of the castle church. At this Diet of Worms, Luther was asked under grave threat to recant. In closing and as his answer he gave this:
"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason - for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves - I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen."
He may or may not have actually said "Here I stand" just prior to "God help me," but the message does not change either way.
So why is this important today?
As Christians we are asked to recant daily. We are asked to bow to science in many cases where the science fails scientific method itself. We are asked to not speak of what we believe. We are asked to not call out error in the church when it is apparent. We are prevented from prayer in venues. We are the subject of ridicule and in many cases even false testimony. We are targeted. We are called small minded.
Scripture tells us that the message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. It also tells us that it is everything to those who believe.
The Christian prays for all men and their well being. Christians wish salvation for all men for that is why Christ died... for all mankind and their sins.
500 years later Christians are still asked to recant.
Like Martin Luther... this we cannot do for it is neither safe nor sound.
And this is why the Reformation is still important today.
Crux Christi Nostra Salus: The Cross of Christ is my salvation.
Click the link below to hear "Mighty Fortress" by Martin Luther:
Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" as performed by Koine
