Giants of the Reformation (4)

“According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.” Exodus 25.9

The Pagan Servitude of the Church
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“But, you will say: What is this? Surely your contentions will overthrow the practices and purposes of all the churches and monasteries, and destroy those by which they have waxed rich for many centuries…You will deprive them of their largest incomes. My answer is: That is the very thing which led me to write that the church has been taken prisoner. For this sacred testament of God has been forced into the service of impious greed for gain by the opinions and traditions of irreligious men. They have passed over God’s word; they have laid before us the thoughts of their own hearts, and led the world astray.”

Luther was prepared for the fact that his contentions might overthrow what he regarded as the sinful and unBiblical manner in which church leaders were doing church in his day. The churches and monasteries had become rich by these practices. Pastors were well off and highly esteemed. Everybody went to church. And Luther wanted to undo all that? Was he mad? Angry, yes, but not mad, and not sinning in calling church leaders to realize that their worldly ways of doing church had imprisoned the Body of Christ in pagan practices, and robbed trusting Christians of their freedom to grow in the Lord and serve others in love. Church leaders in Luther’s day had “passed over God’s word” in trying to do God’s work, led by “the thoughts of their own hearts.” God had showed them the pattern, as surely as He showed Moses; but they had determined to do their own thing instead. As a result, the household of faith had been led astray, deprived of true freedom, and robbed of the joy of knowing Jesus Christ. Overthrow such a system? Well, if it would not agree to be reformed, why not?

How might you undertake to assess everything in the life of your church, to make sure that what you’re doing has solid Biblical underpinnings? Where would you start?

T. M. Moore

Organizing with the Spirit
The Lord Jesus is building His Church. His Word is the blueprint, His Spirit is the General Contractor, and we are all builders together of the Body of Christ. But are we doing our work God’s way, or ours? The Spirit has His ways of organizing our work, and we do well to understand as much as we can about His methods. This is the argument of Dr. Kent Miller of Michigan State University, and you can watch our Conversation with Dr. Miller, and download a free copy of his paper on the subject, “Organizing with the Spirit,” by clicking here.

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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).