On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the local church in Wittenberg, Germany, 95 reforms he believed necessary to revitalize the universal church and restore Jesus to His rightful place as Savior and Lord in church doctrine and life.

In effect, Luther grabbed the church by the throat & shook it with its own need of God.

That the church convulsed against Luther’s attempt at life saving is true. Twice in my life I have stood on the very ground in Worms, Germany where Martin Luther stood trial before the political and ecclesiastical powers of his day, attacked for his search and rescue mission of the church, his life saving efforts that almost cost him his life.

For What Was Luther So Willing to Risk Everything?

Luther’s passion for Christ & the church can be expressed in 5 great statements of truth:

1. “Sola Scriptura” – Only Scripture: The Bible is our authoritative rule of faith & life.

In 1517, the Bible was virtually unknown to the church. The people of God could not read the Bible because it was not available in the language of the every day. Pastors did not teach the Word to God’s people, instead teaching the dictates of church authorities. In principle and in practice, church teaching superseded the Bible as authoritative.

Luther said no.

He stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “only Scripture:” the Bible, not men, is our final authoritative rule of faith and life.

2. “Sola Gratia” – Only grace: It is only by God’s grace we are saved from sin.

In 1517, the church taught that salvation and eternal life were not the gift of God but the gift of the church, given to whomever the church deemed worthy. The “worthy” were those who had done good works for, or given good gifts to, the church.

Luther said no.

Luther stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “only grace”: it is only by God’s grace that we are saved from sin, and not by anything that we have done or ever could do.

3. “Sola Fide” – Only faith: It is only by faith in God we are justified before God.

In 1517, the church taught that justification before God was not received by faith in Jesus, but by the purchase of indulgences: if people gave money to the church, either for themselves or for departed loved ones, they would spend less time in purgatory and go more quickly to heaven, justified.

Luther said no.

Luther stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “only faith”: it is only by faith in God that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. Our justification before God does not rest on any merit to be found in us or by any good work that we perform: we are justified by faith and by faith alone.

4. Solus Christus – Through Christ Alone: salvation is possible only in Jesus.

Michael Horton writes: ”Not too long before the Reformation, … many Renaissance minds were convinced that there was a saving revelation of God in nature and that, therefore, Christ was not the only way. The fascination with pagan philosophy encouraged the idea that natural religion offered a great deal–indeed, even salvation–to those who did not know Christ.”

Luther said no.

Luther stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “through Christ alone:” there is one mediator between God and man, and that mediator is Jesus Christ.

Horton continues: “The Reformation was, more than anything else, an assault on faith in humanity, and a defense of the idea that God alone reveals Himself and saves us. We do not find Him; He finds us. That emphasis was the cause of the cry, “Christ alone!” Jesus was the only way of knowing what God is really like, the only way of entering into a relationship with Him as father instead of judge, and the only way of being saved from His wrath.”

Related is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers: because all believers have access to God through Jesus Christ, all believers then have ministry to God and a ministry for God to others.

5. Soli Deo Gloria: For the glory of God alone.

There is no “sacred vs. secular,” no “personal religious beliefs vs public secular life”: all of our life is given to us by God to glorify Him. In I Corinthians 10:31, Paul writes, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”: the Christian consecrates every thought, word, and deed of every day to the supreme task of glorifying God and God alone.

Whatever we do: worship on Sunday and work on Monday.  Preaching and plumbing, teaching and tailoring.

Even the joys of music.

Johann Sebastian Bach said, “The sole purpose of music is to glorify God,” actually writing “Soli Deo Gloria” on every piece of music he wrote.

Of Soli Deo Gloria, Stephen J. Wellum writes, “(it) functions as a capstone for all Reformation theology, connecting its various parts to God’s one purpose for creating this world and humanity in it.”

The Reformation 1517 & Pre-Reformation 2016 Inversion

Looking at the evangelical church today, it is clear that, in many ways, the church has reverted to a pre-Reformation life and doctrine: we have retreated 400 years in practice and an eternity in our understanding. 

A LifeWay Research 2016 study demonstrates that there are large cracks, even gaping holes, in the Sola Wall of evangelical life and doctrine today. We won’t all pertinent findings, but consider just the following (All findings are for self-identified evangelicals only):

Sola Scriptura:

Almost 2 in 10 disagree with the statement that “God is the author of Scripture.”

2 in 10 say that Churches that do not preach from the Bible are still Christian churches.

2 in 10 agree that the teaching of Scripture changes with the times.

 

Sola Gratia:

Almost 9 in 10 believe that a person obtains peace with God by first taking the initiative to seek God and then God responds with grace.

  

Sola Fide:

4 in 10 believe their good works help to earn their salvation.

Solus Christus:

Almost 1 in 2 believe that God equally accepts the worship of all religions. All religions.

Almost 1 in 2 say that Jesus is not the only way to heaven.

Soli Deo Gloria:

95% do believe humans exist to glorify God and to enjoy Him. “Only” was not specified in the survey.

Unmarked Doors & Empty Courtrooms

A substantial portion of today’s evangelical church would not join Luther in nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door much less stand trial with him at Worms.

Many speak of the church’s great need for revival, and I would agree.

But before the church can experience revival, we first need Reformation.

We need to do in our day what Luther did in his day: nail critical reforms, not to the doors of the church, but to the door of our own heart – reforms in the four passions that obsessed the early church so much that Luke says they “devoted” themselves to them (Acts 2.42):

1. Our commitment to the Word of God

Whatever our view on the authority of Scripture, the overwhelming majority of evangelical Christians did not read their Bible this week.

What is the difference between Christians in 1517 who couldn’t read the Bible and Christians in 2016 who won’t read the Bible?

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, we need a reformation in our pursuit and possession of the Word of God.

2. Our commitment to the fellowship of the Body of Christ

The American church today has largely abandoned the biblical truth that we are the body of Christ in order to take on a church attendance or spectator mentality.

We wonder why “love” does not define the church in the eyes of the world, but it just stands to reason that we won’t love the world if we don’t even love one another in the church.

What is the difference between church of 1517 that was not allowed to live as the body of Christ and the church of 2016 that chooses not to do so?

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, we need a reformation in our shared life as the body of Christ.

3. Our commitment to the breaking of bread.

Like the Lord’s Table added as an afterthought to the end of Sunday morning services, the church tacks on grace to its life and doctrine as an afterthought to all of its religion and relationships.

We practice this form of godliness but with a lack of godly fear that denies the power thereof.

What is the difference between the church of 1517 that never taught God’s grace and the church of 2016 that no longer trembles at God’s grace, that grace so pointedly expressed in the Lord’s Supper?

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, a reformation in our understanding of God’s grace given us in the Cross where the body of God’s Son was broken and His blood shed to save us, the undeserving, from our sins.

4. Our commitment to prayer

Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer,” but the American church is too busy to pray because the American Christian has grown cold to his need of God. Our self-sufficiency, or our trust in others, is evidenced in our prayerlessness, personal and corporate.

What is the difference between the church of 1517 that did not know it could pray in faith to God and the church of 2016 that can pray in faith to God but chooses not to do so.

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, a reformation in our understanding faith & how much we really need God.

Forget “Devotion,” It Was “Addiction” 

The English translation of Luke’s Acts 2.42 description of the church’s passion for the Word of God, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer is as sterile as a nodding nursery rhyme: “And they ‘devoted’ themselves to . . ”  It reads almost like, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

But the Biblical sense of Luke’s intent is far more confrontational. Like Luther striding up to the door of the Wittenberg church – hammer, nails and theses in hand – Luke writes that early Christians addicted themselves to the four actions of Acts 2.42 not “as if” their life depended on them, but “because” their life did indeed depend on them.

Luke writes about a church forged with hammer and nails in hand because of a Lord and Savior who had taken a hammer and nails in His very body for their – for our – salvation.

Luke writes about a church formed by trials and for trials because of a Lord and Savior who had stood the greatest trial of all time to give us life for all time.

Re4mation 2.1:  It’s Hammer and Nails Time 

The Holy Scriptures, grace, the body of Christ, and prayer . . .

These are the four holy addictions of those who know Jesus Christ. It is these four addictions that we must once again nail to the door of His church,  a door constructed of five historic planks: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria.

Four hundred years after Reformation 1, it’s time for Re4mation 2.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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