Happy Reformation Day

Happy Reformation Day = October 31
(Rev. Daniel Vraa, Pastor)

     Imagine a world wherein everything was controlled – especially religious beliefs. In this world, you would be burned alive for disagreeing with the people in power. In this world, religious leaders taught things contrary to the Bible, and no one was allowed to read a Bible in their own language. In this world, you were told that the souls of your dead loved ones were in a place of fire and torture, yet if you gave the church your money, then your loved one could be freed. In this world, you feared God was going to punish you unless you punished yourself in painful ways. In this world, you had no reassurance that God loved you, or ever would love you. This was the world Martin Luther lived in.
 
    Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk who lived in Germany in the 15thand 16thCenturies. He was filled with shame and fear, because he knew he was a sinner in danger of God’s wrath. He worked hard to please God, yet was never fully assured that it was enough. He even put stones in his shoes, so that when he walked, the pain would somehow impress God with his efforts of penance and piety.

    Then he read Romans 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’.” This changed him, and then it changed the World.

     Martin saw the Gospel promise that salvation (forgiveness, God’s favor, eternal life) is received by faith, not by religious drudgery and works of penance. We are saved by Jesus Christ, through his work of dying on the cross for us, and his resurrection from the dead. This salvation is a gift from God to us, received by us through faith alone (not by works). Overjoyed, Martin put his faith and trust in Jesus, and began to tell others through his words and his writings.
 
    He wrote complaints against the abuses of the church in Rome, calling for the reformation of the church, back to the ways of the Bible. On October 31, 1517, he listed complaints against these errors (Luther’s 95 Theses), and nailed them to the church’s big, wooden doors, in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin Luther was tried for heresy, and had to be placed in protective custody in a castle, in order to stay alive and produce his books and articles. This was the humble beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

    In the decades that followed, Christianity spread throughout Europe through Martin Luther’s writings and preaching (and those of many other reformers). With the invention of the printing press, Bibles were mass-produced in peoples’ languages, adding fuel to the spiritual revival. As a result of Martin Luther’s courageous pursuit of biblical truth, millions were liberated from fear and drudgery, into joyful service to Christ and His Kingdom. 

    As Evangelical Christians, October 31 is “Reformation Day.” Others may call it “Halloween” – a day of getting candy and making fun of creepy things; but we know better. October 31 commemorates a re-discovery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: that any and all can be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Because of Christ’s blood shed on the cross, our sins are forgiven. Because of Christ, we have peace with God, and dwell in his favor. Because of Jesus’s resurrection, we are guaranteed eternal life with him. This treat comes with no tricks.