A "Reformation Day" Charge

Tonight at Bible Study we celebrated Reformation Day. In 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the doors of a church in Germany which is the document that ultimately gave birth to Protestantism. It is interesting to note that on the same day the world celebrates the most pagan holiday, Halloween, hundreds of years ago a reformation for the church of Christ and the furthering of the Gospel was taking place.

We have heard the names Martin Luther, John Calvin, and so on and quite often miss the priceless examples and legacies these men and women of the Lord provide. These people took their salvation and the Gospel for what it was worth...EVERYTHING. Romans 8 is a key passage in understanding our salvation...here in verses 1-11, we get a glimpse of Paul's "spurring":
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

When God called us to repentance and faith through His Son He became LORD of our lives and commanded us to die to the flesh, to our fallen nature and to live a life that was radically different from what had been. A life that lives the Gospel out day by day. A life that lives on earth to praise and glorify its Creator. A life that is marked by suffering for the name of Christ, by selfless love for others, by humble servitude, and praise and thankfulness for what they've been blessed with. We have the opportunity to live out our faith in a fallen world and we must take it...why else are we here other than to proclaim His Gospel and further the kingdom. Let's get our job done!

Let us learn from our heroes of the faith in the past, those from the time period when reform meant heavy persecution yet much glory to God. Let us take the advice of those who radically changed the world for the cause of Christ and the Gospel. Lets stop focusing on ourselves and on the Gospel.

""This is the mystery of the riches of divine grace for sinners, for by a wonderful exchange our sins are now not ours but Christ's, and Christ's righteousness is not Christ's, but ours." -Martin Luther