The Best Christian Ever...
Dont quote me on this: but Martin Luther was the best Christian ever.
I'm sure that statement begs an explaination...
A common teaching going around in the 16th Century was the picture of a father offering an apple to a baby boy and then letting him reach it by giving him a helping hand being analogous to God's offer of salvation to us. Not a bad illustration? Martin Luther devoted his life to showing that this is absolute rubbish.
We speak about salvation by grace, but do we really believe it? What is grace? a free gift of God: he purchases it for us, he gives it to us, he shows us how to live in it, and he lives in us as part of that gift. What is our job in all this? Nothing!
The Bible shows us that before we become Christians we are slaves to a sinful nature, that we are essentially dead because we can't even decide that we want to follow God by ourselves! The question at the center of the Reformation was whether man can save himself with God's help, or whether the saving is done completely by God. You say 'have faith' and the Bible says even that is a gift of God!
Luther's teaching and work have brought many people to the realisation that they can do nothing to add to their salvation and nothing to detract from it! It is a gift from God. Once we realise that we are free from this burden (and a wearisome one it would be) we are able to worship God and live for him, not for any selfish motives, but simply for his glory!!
This is a fantastic privilege and one that God wants us to enjoy to the full... Luther may not be the 'best' Christian ever, but God used him and his writings to release millions of people to worship. An understanding of grace, which is coming to me slowly, has changed my life completely. Seeing my intrinsic value as being independent of what I do has awesome repercussions!
I'm sure that statement begs an explaination...
A common teaching going around in the 16th Century was the picture of a father offering an apple to a baby boy and then letting him reach it by giving him a helping hand being analogous to God's offer of salvation to us. Not a bad illustration? Martin Luther devoted his life to showing that this is absolute rubbish.
We speak about salvation by grace, but do we really believe it? What is grace? a free gift of God: he purchases it for us, he gives it to us, he shows us how to live in it, and he lives in us as part of that gift. What is our job in all this? Nothing!
The Bible shows us that before we become Christians we are slaves to a sinful nature, that we are essentially dead because we can't even decide that we want to follow God by ourselves! The question at the center of the Reformation was whether man can save himself with God's help, or whether the saving is done completely by God. You say 'have faith' and the Bible says even that is a gift of God!
Luther's teaching and work have brought many people to the realisation that they can do nothing to add to their salvation and nothing to detract from it! It is a gift from God. Once we realise that we are free from this burden (and a wearisome one it would be) we are able to worship God and live for him, not for any selfish motives, but simply for his glory!!
This is a fantastic privilege and one that God wants us to enjoy to the full... Luther may not be the 'best' Christian ever, but God used him and his writings to release millions of people to worship. An understanding of grace, which is coming to me slowly, has changed my life completely. Seeing my intrinsic value as being independent of what I do has awesome repercussions!
posted by Dan | 7:45 PM
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