Dear Fellow Alumni,
31 October 1517 is remembered by Christians as the date of the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent birth of the Protestant Church.
The Reformation Day, like Easter and Christmas, are placed in the Christian calendar, to enable us to remember the what, the when, the where, the how and why of these significant events. When we recall or remember an event such as these, we will understand their significance. This should lead us to an attitude of gratitude. The more thankful we are for our Christian heritage, the greater the probability of remaining true to our faith. Hence, the posture of gratitude is paramount in our faith.
I try and recall 31st October at least once a year, because I am grateful to God for the birth of the Protestant faith, which is a vital part of my spiritual roots. I think of the reformer Martin Luther and especially the three Reformation truths – faith alone, grace alone, and Christ alone, which he reiterated and reinstated to their rightful place in the Church. These truths are so familiar to us that we forget that once upon a time, the Christians had actually deviated from these fundamental teachings of Christ and the apostles and had replaced them with other dogmas and extrabiblical teachings.
Martin Luther was God’s man for the hour. He challenged the teachings of the Medieval Roman Church and used Scripture as the basis for his arguments for the truths he declared.
For those who do not know this man, Luther grew up in the Church and did all the rituals the Church taught that every good Christian ought to do. Despite his earnestness in pursuing these practices, he could not find peace with God. Eventually, it was in his study of the Scriptures in their original languages – Hebrew and Greek – that the Holy Spirit opened his heart and mind to the truths that brought peace to his troubled soul. God’s Word led him to conclude that righteousness is not about us doing righteous works, but it is all about God’s righteousness that we simply receive through faith. This was revolutionary for Luther – to recognise that righteousness is a gift from God that we appropriate through faith.?
As I reread the Book of Romans, one of the Books that led to Luther’s turning point, I am once again awed at Paul’s teaching on salvation and the righteousness of God. Let me share some nuggets from Romans chapter 4:
Paul cites an OT example of Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. He reminds us that Abraham believed in God, and his faith in God was credited to him as righteousness. Righteousness is not about works, but it is a gift. Every promise that God made to Abraham was based on faith alone. Paul goes on to indicate that Abraham believed in God before he was physically circumcised. In other words, his physical circumcision was not the means of his righteousness, but his faith. – “he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” (Romans 4:11)
You and I have received this very same righteousness from God through faith! This makes Abraham our spiritual Father because through Abraham, all the nations of the world have come to receive salvation through faith alone, in Christ alone!?
This is the reason why when I think about Reformation Day, I am thankful to God for his gift of salvation whereby Christ died on my behalf, and Christ has now clothed me with God’s righteousness, which I received by faith! I cannot earn righteousness through doing good works. I receive God’s righteousness as a gift through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross! Yes, I am saved by faith through the grace of God, in Christ’s finished work, alone! Hallelujah!?
I am so thankful to God for this truth that was restored during the 16th century. I am so thankful that God used Martin Luther to bring people back to the Scriptures and to Jesus Christ, when he reinforced these truths through teaching, preaching and congregational hymn singing.
The Reformation also reminds me that I need to keep my relationship with Christ fresh and alive, through the reading of God’s Word and through my intentional walk with Jesus day by day. God’s Word must continue to ignite my heart and mind in order that I may love God, fear God, obey God, walk in step with his Holy Spirit, and do what pleases him. This short chorus encapsulates my desire:
Change my heart, O God,
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God.
May I be like You.
You are the Potter, I am the clay,
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray.
Change my heart, O God,
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God,
May I be like You.
May we always have a posture of gratitude to Jesus Christ, the Author of our salvation and the Lord of our lives!