Giants of the Reformation (4)

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, ”for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Ephesians 4.25-27

The Pagan Servitude of the Church
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“Satan has taken advantage of this lamentable condition of ours to remove every trace of the real mass from the church. At the same time, he has taken care that every corner of the world is full of spurious masses, i.e., abuses and travesties of God’s testament. He burdens the world more and more with sacrilege, that gravest of sins, and so increases his guilt; for what more sinful sacrilege could there be than to replace God’s promises by perverse opinions, or to neglect them, or to extinguish all faith in them?”

Luther was convinced that, by failing to teach the faith and build Christ’s Church according to God’s Word, Church leaders of his day had opened the door for the devil to wreak havoc in the household of faith. The devil kept the nomenclature of faith and church, but corrupted the substance of both, thus robbing people of their freedom in Christ, and making them servants to the whims and fancies of men. Truth was suffused with lies and half-truths, and sin abounded. God’s promises were given lip-service, as men imbued with the spirit of the age rather than the Spirit of God led Christians into “sacrilege” – corruption of life and faith. Doubtless many of these church leaders meant well, but, like Colonel Nicholson in Bridge over the River Kwai, they had given their best work to creating highways for the devil to prosecute his agenda all over Europe. They needed a “come to Jesus” moment, and Luther was determined to give it to them.

Are you doing God’s work God’s way, or are principles and practices alien to the Word of God guiding your efforts at making disciples, building the church, and advancing the Kingdom of God?

T. M. Moore

Pastoral Hope Initiative
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.All quotations from Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christianin John Dillenberger, ed., Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings(New York: Doubleday, 1962).