Learning from Luther

Last Sunday, October 31, was the celebration of Reformation Day. This is the remembering of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Catholic church in Wittenberg Germany. To appreciate that history, one needs to know a little background that can be an encouragement to us today. Martin Luther was in law school, and on July 2, 1505, he got caught in a storm and lightning struck right next to him. This event scared him so much that he promised to become a Monk if he could get out of the storm alive. Luther kept his word and at age 21 became an Augustinian monk. The story goes that asLuther lived as a monk, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a sinner before Holy God. By the time Luther was 28, he hadreceived a doctorate in theology and was placed in charge of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg. Through studying, teaching, and meditating on scripture, Luther came to understand the idea of saving faith. God’s righteousness wasn’t a burden to sinful man when man through faith receives God’s righteousness. From then on, Luther was obsessed with scripture. He studied it, stood upon it as his foundation, and used it to address the issues with the system of Catholicism thathe was in. He was convinced that God’s word comes not through a bishop, not through a pope, but through the written word of the Bible. Today, my encouragement to you is to stand on the same foundation of the written word of God. False teachers are everywhere. Self-proclaimed messengers who spread false doctrine are easy to find. We as a church need to step away from tradition and familiarity and make every decision based on the written word of God. Psalm 119:130 -“The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.”