Reformation Day

In honor of Reformation Day, I would like to share my favorite quotes from Martin Luther, a few posts I have written concerning some of his theological statements, and a few of his works.

These are my two favorite quotes from Luther, and I think the reasons will be obvious:

"A Christian man is a most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to every one." ~ Concerning Christian Liberty

"Good God, what a lot of trouble there is in marriage! Adam has made a mess of our nature. Think of all the squabbles Adman and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years. Eve would say, 'You ate the apple,' and Adam would retort, 'You gave it to me.'" ~ Quoted in Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Here are a few posts I wrote on some of Luther's theology:

• A Life of Repentance
• Sin Boldly
• Sign Posts vs. The Road

For a biography of Martin Luther, the premier is Here I Stand, by Roland Bainton. My favorite works by Luther are his commentary on Galatians, The Freedom of a Christian, and The Bondage of the Will.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Divine Mercies (Overlooked...)

THOU ETERNAL GOD,
Thine is surpassing greatness, unspeakable
    goodness, super-abundant grace;
I can as soon count the sands of ocean's 'lip'
  as number Thy favors towards me;
I know but a part, but that part exceeds all praise.
I thank Thee for personal mercies,
  a measure of health, preservation of body,
  comforts of house and home, sufficiency of food
    and clothing,
  continuance of mental powers,
  my family, their mutual help and support,
    the delights of domestic harmony and peace,
    the seats now filled that might have been vacant,
  my country, church, Bible, faith.
But, O, how I mourn my sin, ingratitude, vileness,
  the days that add to my guilt,
  the scenes that witness my offending tongue;
All things in heaven, earth, around, within, without,
    condemn me—
  the sun which sees my misdeeds,
  the darkness which is light to thee,
  the cruel accuser who justly charges me,
  the good angels who have been provoked to leave
    me,
  Thy countenance which scans my secret sins,
  Thy righteous law, Thy holy Word,
  my sin-soiled conscience, my private and
    public life,
  my neighbors, myself—
    all write dark things against me.
I deny them not, frame no excuse, but confess,
  'Father, I have sinned';
Yet still I live, and fly repenting to Thy outstretched
    arms;
  Thou wilt not cast me off, for Jesus brings me near,
  Thou wilt not condemn me, for He died in
    my stead,
  Thou wilt not mark my mountains of sin,
    for He leveled all,
  and His beauty covers my deformities.
O my God, I bid farewell to sin by clinging
    to His cross,
  hiding in His wounds, and sheltering in His side.
~ Divine Mercies, The Valley of Vision

I read this recently when I was getting discouraged about a few things, and like many of my moments of discouragement, I was reminded that my focus is on the wrong things. I found this prayer both convicting and uplifted, for it reminded me of the many divine mercies from our loving Father that my sinful, forgetful heart often overlooks. Below are a few thoughts that came to mind while meditating on this prayer:

"Super-abundant grace": The grace we get from God in Christ is not just enough to squeak by. It is not just enough to push us over the edge, while we handle the rest ourselves. It is super-abundant; far more than we could ever need, like the waves of the ocean--completely inexhaustible. It over flows our cups, even while they should be filled with His wrath. It is greater than all our circumstances, sorrows, victories, talents, weaknesses, good deeds, and sins. Indeed, we cannot out-sin His super-abundant grace to us in Jesus. You know, I preached on this last year but, of course, needed the reminder again. "O, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be."

"Personal mercies": This is a convicting list, for they are all true of me; yet I do not often give praise to God for them. They are all the things going right in my life, which go unnoticed like a smooth road goes unnoticed by a driver cruising down the highway. Yet, they are countless reasons to praise God, and in that sense, the list is uplifting.

He has granted me a "measure of health" and "preservation of body." I am not in the physical shape I was 10-15 years ago, but in general He has given me great health. I see and hear of many others, like my beloved sister, who have chronic health problems, and yet even while praying for her and the others, I forget to praise God for His grace to me in my health. Yet, it is only His sovereign choice that has kept me in good health while better men and women suffer. Perhaps it is because He knows they will suffer better than I would in their place, which is a testimony to their child-like faith and to my lack thereof, but even if that judgment is true, I should be thankful for His mercy and patience with me while He grows me to such a faith.

In His grace, He has given me the "comforts" of home, food, and clothing. I confess, I often focus more on the fact that our townhouse is, at times, frustrating or that the budget is tight and not on the fact that Erika, Gabriel, and I have all that we need. We have a shelter that is more than adequate, which is more than I can say for some of my friends in Atlanta who are still living on the street. We have food and never worry about our next meal or tomorrow's meals, which is more than much of the world's population can say. I may not have fashion sense, but I have a wife who does and clothes that are more than sufficient for my lifestyle. Perhaps this praise should be in every meal's blessing to remind me that my table is full and my home is warm, while others are not so fortunate.

Our Lord has blessed me with a wonderful family and "domestic harmony." I have a godly wife who loves, supports, and sacrifices for me far more than I remember or thank her for. She is patient with my inconsiderate ways, encouraging in my failures, realistic in my successes, supportive of my calling, and wonderful with my son. We, of course, have our share of squabbles but mostly there is peace, and it is real peace, not peace through avoidance. I have a wonderful son who is in great health, which is more than many parents can say. It breaks my heart to think about children suffering from heart problems, cancer, head injuries, or any number of other maladies, and yet in my sorrow for them, how often do I praise God for a healthy boy? Not as often as I could and should. The above line, "the seats now filled that might have been vacant" nearly brings tears to my eyes. Gabriel's seat could have been vacant. When he was born, he had some complications, and for a time, we thought he was going to die. We are so thankful for God's healing during that time, but how often do I look at his high-chair and think, "That could have been empty, except for the mercy of God"? How often does that thought generate praise? Not nearly as often as it could and should.

While I find many things in our country about which to complain, I am still free to worship and live for God, which is more than many of my friends in closed countries can say. I have a church family that is loving, healthy, and united, and that is not because of me but because God working through great leadership that was here long before I came to this congregation. And, of course, most of all: God chose me and called me out of sin and darkness into His glorious light. It was not because of anything good in me that led Him to do so but was simply because of His good pleasure. Why did He choose to place His love on me? I do not have an answer to that question, but I do know it was not anything in me that deserved it. I was His enemy; only deserving His just wrath. If God took every other aspect of my life away, that would be enough to demand my eternal praise and gratitude.

"How much I mourn my... ingratitude": I guess much of this post so far is such mourning, but does it match the level of ingratitude in my heart? Not hardly. I could mourn all day everyday and not do justice to how ungrateful I am to my faithful God and Savior. Yet, that would do no good. In fact, my sinful heart would likely turn godly mourning into pious penance, thus adding to my mountain of sin. What else can I do? Well, the author of this awesome prayer helps here too: run to my Savior and repent.

"I deny them not... but confess": What else can I do? If I spend much time mourning, my heart will start to believe God should forgive me because, of course, I am so sorry, but that is simply the sin of penance--trying to merit what Jesus has already earned; trying to pay for what I already get for free. Can I make God my debtor in that way? Not hardly. No, I must go to Him on the basis of Christ's work alone and say, "Father, I have sinned." And, when I do, what do I find? "Outstretched arms" is what I find! He can no more reject me than He can reject Christ because Jesus is my bulwark that never fails, and I hide "in His wounds and shelter in His side." To look at my sin and think that God will not want me back (this time) is to say that the Father tires of the pleasing aroma of His Son's sacrifice. It is to say that Jesus is not enough (this time) and that I must add to His work. I cannot add to His work! I can only bring in repentance the sin that needs forgiving, and when I do, "His beauty covers my deformities."

There are so many divine mercies from our heavenly Father! "I can as soon count the sands of the ocean's 'lip' as number [His] favors towards me," but that does not mean I should not endeavor to praise Him for all that I can count--those blessings that are all mine with ten thousand beside. When I do, He is glorified and my joy is increased. What, then, is stopping me? Oh yeah, my sinful, forgetful heart. Well, perhaps, Lord willing, a little less so after today, and if not, well He's still working on me.

By His Grace,
Taylor

In Christ You Can Be Completely Honest

"In this solemn confession, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its true name, bloodguiltiness. He did not actually kill the husband of Bathsheba; but still it was planned in David’s heart that Uriah should be slain, and he was before the Lord his murderer. Learn in confession to be honest with God. Do not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter. What God sees them to be, that do you labour to feel them to be; and with all openness of heart acknowledge their real character." ~ Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, evening April 7

In this devotion, Spurgeon was referring to David's confession in Ps. 51, where he brought his sin of murder before God. If I might be so bold as to add to Spurgeon's statement: for in Christ you will always find forgiveness. Before the throne of God we must always be honest about our sin and not try to "soft petal" anything, for He knows the truth whether we try to hide it or not. Yet, that is not a labor, for we know that before the throne of God in Christ--on the basis of His sacrifice and clothed in His righteousness--is the only place where we can be completely honest and still be accepted. Our closest friends and family my reject us, eventually. They might grow tired of our depravity. They might find our sin too heinous to be forgiven. They might never be able to look at us the same way again. But, the Christian has no such worry before God in Christ. We cannot expect to stand before the throne of God without Christ, but in Him we cannot be unaccepted for any sin. There are no stipulations on His promise: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn. 1:9) There is no time when our Advocate (1 Jn. 2:1) is not before the throne defending us against any and all condemnation. That is why Paul can say, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Ro. 8:1)

Christian, you can be completely honest before God with your sin. You can pour it out in repentance with all candor. You are free to go to Him not matter how dirty you may be, and He will not reject you. He will not unaccept you. He will not be angry. You can cry out, "Wretched man that I am!" (Ro. 7:24), and He will not look at you any differently, for when He sees you, He sees Christ (2 Co. 5:21). You are safe, in Christ. Never forget that, and go to God always as you are.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Sin, a Little Thing?

"Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with thorns, and pierced His heart! It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior, and you will see it to be 'exceedingly sinful.'" ~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, morning March 11.

Surrounded by sin, continually committing them, and being in a world that only cares about sin when they fear punishment means that Christians can start to become familiar with it, and by degrees we begin to regard sin as less than what it is--an affront to a holy, sinless God. We all do this, myself included. It's easy to think of sin in relative, worldly terms, and in that way it does not look so bad. The "white lie," the flirtation with lust, the creeping bitterness, the slowly building disinterest, the "small" bouts with impatience, the covetous desires, the racist thoughts we "never act on," or any other sin we may take lightly, they all nailed Jesus to the cross and all deserved an eternity in hell. Even if they were to be the only sin we ever committed, they deserve an eternity in hell, separated from the holy, sinless God. No matter how we might feel or the degree to which we might become used to sin, we must remind ourselves of the heinousness of sin--all want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.

What then do we do? Do we then punish ourselves for them? By no means, for Jesus took that punishment and it cannot be repeated! Do we let them go? May it never be, for they brought God's wrath down upon His Son on the cross. We take them to Him, we confess them, we repent of them with gospel-driving repentance, we acknowledge their evil, we ask His forgiveness, and we then bask in His glorious grace to those who are in Christ. We take sin seriously and acknowledge it for what it is, yet we do not wallow in our guilt over it. We take it to the cross and rest in the grace that has saved us from its punishment and freed us from its power.

By His Grace,
Taylor

A Life of Repentance

“Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” ~ The first of Martin Luther's 95 Theses

Traditionally, Reformation Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. The first is something I often need to be reminded of even though it may look bleak. It does seem like Luther is saying Christians will never make progress in getting better so they always need to be repenting. What he really meant, however, is that living a life of repentance is the way a Christian actually makes progress. In fact, a persistent life of repentance is one of the best, telltale signs that we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. (By the way, “poenitentiam agite” is the Latin Vulgate mistranslation of Matthew 4:17 that led to the Roman Catholic doctrine of repentance. Luther is saying that it should not be translated as “do penance” but “repent”.)

When talking about repentance we must understand the difference between “religious repentance” (a term I borrow from Tim Keller) and gospel-driven repentance. “Religious” repentance is done basically to keep God happy so He will not punish us, so He will bless us, or to bribe Him to answer our prayers. Gospel-driven repentance, however, comes from deep sorrow for sinning against our God who loves us so much and repeatedly reminds us of our union with Christ, His all-encompassing sacrifice for us, and God’s love for us that can never change. This kind of repentance will weaken our need to do those things that are contrary to God’s heart.

Sin is atrocious and dishonors God but with “religious repentance” we are not sorry for the sin; we are afraid of condemnation or punishment, which is a man-centered way of viewing repentance. The gospel reminds Christians that we are incredibly sinful (Romans 7:7ff) but also that no sin can ultimately bring us to condemnation (Romans 8:1) so we do not have to go to God thinking we must somehow avert His anger. Jesus has already done that for us with His propitiatory sacrifice for us (Romans 3:23-26)! Gospel-driven repentance opens our heart to being sorry for the sin itself and what it has done to God. Gospel-driven repentance is ultimately God-centered, which is how our entire lives should be.

Another problem with “religious” repentance is that when we have this mindset we are often trying to atone for the sin somehow. We think that if we are truly sorry for the sin then we deserve to be forgiven for it. We might even go so far as to do something that will make us suffer for the sin as some kind of act of penance. That kind of thinking is actually quite arrogant and, again, man-centered. We cannot atone for anything! The gospel, however, reminds us that we do not have to atone for our sin. Jesus has already done that! He suffered the punishment for our sins (I John 2:1-2). He earned the forgiveness. In repentance we simply receive with open, empty hands the forgiveness that Jesus earned for us. In gospel-driven repentance, forgiveness is a just/righteous thing for God to do (I John 1:9) because Jesus suffered and died for it. Think about that for a second. It would be unjust for God not to forgive us when we come to Him for forgiveness on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice for us because Jesus merited acceptance for us! Again, this makes gospel-driven repentance humble and God-centered.

Gospel-driven repentance also makes confession of sin easy. Listen to John’s words in I John 1:8-2:2:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

In “religious” repentance we only ask for forgiveness when we are really feeling guilty about something. There must be tremendous pressure for us to repent. In gospel-driven repentance, however, we run to God with all our sins because 1) we know we have to and 2) we know that we will be accepted. John tells us that if we say we have no sin we are a liar. Harsh words but true words. But, he says, if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us! Not only that, John says, “…if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” This should make us run to the throne for repentance any time we sin, no matter how “big” or “small” the sin seems. We can run to the throne because we know that God is faithful and just to forgive us and Jesus, the sacrifice that earned our forgiveness, is our advocate! Gospel-driven repentance reminds us of how sinful we are, yet also reminds us that we can freely, quickly run to God for forgiveness and be certain that He will grant it.

This is why repentance is a way of life for believers, as Luther says. We will always have sins to repent but at the same time repentance is one of the ways that God helps us grow and become better. Look again at what John tells his readers, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” Wait, he is telling them that they are sinful and that they can confess their sins so they will not sin? That seems odd. It seems like telling people they are going to sin (no doubt about it) and that they can get forgiveness from God when they confess would make people sin more. That kind of radical grace opens the door for more sinning, right? No, John does not see it that way at all. He says that he is telling them the radical grace of the gospel so that they will not sin. Why? I like Steve Brown’s answer, “The only people who get any better are those that know that if they don’t get any better God will still love them anyway.” Gospel-driven repentance based on radical grace does not encourage sin but helps conform us to the likeness of Christ, which changes our hearts to be after God’s.

By His Grace,

Taylor