BEING BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED IN THE NEW REFORMATION
I wonder if we would recognize a reformation if it began to happen before our eyes? Would we be affected by our preconceived ideas of what transformation should be? It may be that we’re thinking the skies will open up, a heavenly light will glow, and all at once those who had a not-so-perfect understanding of God and His desires for today’s Church (and indeed for all of humanity), according to our mind, will suddenly experience an epiphany. Maybe we’re thinking that the malfunctioning institutions that He created for good but which have been turned to selfish uses will all of a sudden be purged. Maybe we think that everyone should wait quietly, and say nothing, as we pray for SOMETHING to happen.
I can’t tell you whether in every case your notion is right. But I can share with you what I learned about what we call the first reformation, when God used a man named Martin Luther to remind the people of God that He is accessible to all of us. God used Luther to remind the people of his day that if they put their faith in God and received the gift of redemption that He provided to mankind through the death of Jesus Christ, they had absolutely satisfied God’s directions for being forgiven of sins. We may look back with thankfulness over the lives of those we call martyrs and pillars of the faith now, but do you realize that in their day they were criticized, scorned, rebuked and abused?
The other day, as I retired for the evening feeling somewhat disconsolate about the call of God and my current understanding of what that means, I picked up a book entitled Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.** It was written many years ago as a loving compilation by John Foxe, who wanted to make sure the world knew the stories of those who have suffered much and given all for the cause of Christ. I opened one chapter to the story of Martin Luther. We know him today to be one of the great pioneers of what we call the first Protestant Reformation. As I read the story of this faithful brother’s experiences, it struck me again that we might just be so confused about what it means when God says
You are blessed and highly favored.
Luke 1: 28. Being blessed and highly favored doesn’t necessarily mean what we think it means in the world’s currency.
Martin Luther became convinced that the church of the day was committing a wrong by granting forgiveness for sins called indulgences to those who would make large contributions to the church building fund for St. Peter’s Basilica. Martin, who was a monk and teacher of theology at the University of Wittenburg in Germany, openly denounced the practice. As the church of the day intensified its teaching and promotion of indulgences, on October 31, 1517, Martin posted 95 theses on the door of his local church. The theses were statements expounding on this practice and other practices of the church of his day. The statements included Luther’s interpretation, explanation and argument against each practice, based on Scripture. It was the custom of the day to post such statements on the church door so that others could read them.
The Church at first disregarded what Martin had to say, but as people began to read and circulate his statements and to consider them seriously, their position changed. The people knew of the man’s reputation for godliness and that he was educated as an intellectual and learned in the Scriptures. But there was something that rang true and down to earth about what he was saying as well. Martin’s statements on the church door reminded the people that a repentant heart and a loving spirit were the real preparations they needed to bring a gift to God, and buying of indulgences was not taught in the Scriptures. The people began to pay attention, and the church leadership began to take notice. Then, the persecution began. This persecution was not coming from unbelievers, but just as Jesus and the first apostles experienced, it was coming from the religious establishment. Yet, as we know today, Martin Luther was blessed and highly favored.
Martin was dragged before Pope Adrian VI. The Pope condemned the man of God as a heretic, using language I have heard from charismatic, Pentecostal pulpits in this century, in this time. Adrian commanded that Martin recant his position. He distributed a letter to his priests warning that Martin was poisoning the minds of God’s people (click here to read an excerpt of the letter at Google Books), and that for this Martin would be punished by God, just as Koram and Abiram were punished in the days of Moses by being swallowed into the ground. I pray you haven’t heard those words hurled at you and others from the pulpit, but unfortunately some have.
But Martin held fast to what God had persuaded him to do, and he would not recant or change his position. The result was a reformation in the Church, which had grown away from the foundations laid by the apostles and other men and women of faith in the early years after Christ’s death and resurrection.
Today, there’s a lot of talk about a new reformation. I believe it’s what God wants, not because I belong to a particular church that teaches this philosophy, and not because someone else told me, but only because God took my ears, my mind and my heart and led me to that understanding. I have no interest in favoring any one church, denomination or network over another. There are some that teach about a new reformation and some that don’t yet. The doctrinal splits and arguments over this are not my concern, I can only share what God has independently spoken to my heart, that it is time for yet another reformation.
The people the Lord calls to be the engineers in this reformation will include people like Martin Luther. We look back through history today, and we celebrate and admire how God used him to bring revival to the church. What a blessing! However, if we were with Martin in his day, we might have heard the ugly things that were said, or read the warnings against associating with him, or grieved with him over the hardship and the isolation of living life “on the fringe,” as it were. He was accepted with great caution, listened to with distrust or suspicion, or rejected outright by many. But there were just enough of those who heard whom God had already prepared to hear, and to do, something new.
The engineers I’m speaking of will include people like Mary, who was called by God to give birth to God’s great move among the people He longs to draw to Himself. She was a special vessel. But in her day she was not being met with great accolades and reverence. Can you just hear the names people called her? Can you hear the whispers? Do you see her being shunned in the streets and the temple as a woman of lost reputation? Or the other Mary (Magdalene). Jesus went out of His way to find and redeem her from an unfulfilling string of personal relationships. She definitely had a bad reputation. But she became the one who brought the good news of a transforming Messiah to her entire community.
These people, Mary, Mary and Martin, are only a few examples of those whom God has chosen to do what He wants done. They were carriers of reformation. They were indeed blessed and highly favored, because God trusted them to accomplish His purpose. But they did it in the face of scorn, shame, suffering, and sometimes feeling very alone. It is only now, long after the fact, that we look back on their lives and appreciate that God used them in His way to bring about something different in the religious environment of their time.
God is calling some to bring a new transformation to His people again. These men and women may be feeling the discomfort of a less than perfect fit with the rhythm and cadence of the Church today. I want to say to you that it’s alright to feel like you don’t fit. If it is of God, He will definitely reveal to you what He has planned for your role to be in the Body of Christ. Some are eyes, ears and feet, some are lymphocytes – blood cells that rush to the points of injury, disease and disrepair to fight off infection and promote healing and restoration. We all have a role to play. But sometimes accepting the job may mean living on the edge of acceptance and understanding. However, if He called you, you can do it. And we've got to be in it to do the job - we won't get anything done while watching from the sidelines.
Being blessed and highly favored may not mean you get a big house and a luxury car to match the halo. Some may be provided for in that way (and I’m not talking about what folks provide for themselves against God’s will), but it’s possible that you might not receive any great excess of material benefits at all. I don’t know that Martin Luther ever did. It may be that God will make it so you cannot boast in anything but the grace, goodness, wisdom and absolute sovereignty of God. But that my friend, will be a far greater blessing and mark of favor than folks are leading us to believe it is today.
** Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Foxe, J., (W. G. Berry, ed.), Whitaker House 1981.
Deanna
