Lighting the Reformation

Some said Johhan Tetzel could redeem the sins of the dead, if only you had enough coins. "When the money clangs in the box, the souls spring up to heaven," Tetzel said, soothing the consciences of many around Wittenburg, Germany.

It was October 31, 1517 when a simple professor and monk protested the redemption-by-payment, called indulgences, in a letter to his church superiors.

Martin Luther's first complaint stated clearly his position: forgiveness of sins was from Jesus Christ, not from the clergy. One of his points cut sharply into the pope's authority to forgive: "The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God."

Forgiveness of sins, according to Luther, was God's work and not that of church authorities.

As a professor of Theology, Luther gave lectures on Galatians, Romans, Hebrews and Psalms. In the study for those lectures, he discovered truth in God's word.

Luther's protests of indulgences put the match to the dry pile of tinder that had been gathering for centuries. Corruption within the church had rendered it more of an international business than a spiritual haven. Forgiveness was available to those with the money and offices were exchanged for wealth.

No one at the time thought Luther would lead a reformation of Christian beliefs and practices. He himself wanted only to correct the church. But people were fed up with the Church's corruption and rallied behind Luther's teachings.

A hundred years before, men died for what Luther was proclaiming, but the time was right. God raised up a courageous man to speak truth from God's Word.

Safe love

The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

- CS Lewis

Economic bites

Maybe gas prices have dipped a little but my grocery bill keeps going up. And it's not all because of a teenage son. That just makes the bite a little more vivid.

We all know that the economy is tight right now. Prices are up, personal financial worth down.

John Piper took an interesting tack on his blog, Desiring God. Bad economic times, he suggests, are good for missions.

Here are some of his reasons:

• During an economic downturn we are more dependent on God. That is the most fertile soil for creating missionaries.
• During an economic downturn unreached people around the world do not expect you to come, but to look out for yourself. So they may more likely see your risk as love rather than exploitation.
• During an economic downturn those who need Christ around the world may be less secure in earthly things and more ready to hear about eternal life.
• During an economic downturn people at home may be wakened to the brevity of life and the fragility of material things, and so may become more generous not less. And when they give under these circumstances, it will make Christ look all the more like the all-satisfying Treasure that he is.

Recently I heard a speaker point out the irony of what our money states: In God we trust. Do we trust the words or the paper they're written on?

Ruth: Finally

The wonder of Ruth captivates me. The story is rich. A woman is stripped of her security and family, blaming God. A foreigner commits to a place and a people she does not know, because of God. A rich man protects relatives he only met, because of his faith in God.

We start the book of Ruth reading a list of names. We close the book in the same way. But the second list is more memorable, for it leads us to King David and ultimately to Jesus.

Men with clay feet, fearful and sickly, were replaced by a heritage of dignity and vigor. Naomi trusted her husband and sons to provide, but learned that that God’s provision is more wondrous.

This is much more than a sweet romance about two people who did the right thing and were rewarded. This is a powerful story about people drawn to health and restoration by God’s compassion and sovereignty.

Nations and lineages were redeemed in God’s plan.

Ruth is a book to encourage us to do as Ruth did: commit with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul and all our strength. For we have seen God work.

Surrender

There is only one thing God wants of us,
and that is our unconditional surrender.

Oswald Chambers

Joke

Just bear with me on this one....

A Roman Catholic priest, a Pentecostal minister, and a Rabbi all served as chaplains to the students of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. They got together 2-3 times a week for coffee and conversation. One day, one of them said to the other two that preaching and serving the sacraments to human beings wasn't all that difficult. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear!

One thing led to another and the three of them agreed to do an experiment. They would go up in the Smokie mountains, find a bear, and attempt to convert him through preaching or the sacraments. They agreed to get back together seven days later and discuss how it went.

When they assembled a week hence, Father Flannery had his arm in a sling, was on crutches and had various bandages on his hands and legs. He shared his adventure first: "Well I went into the woods and found a bear alright, and when I found him I began to read him the RC Catechism, but that bear wanted nothing to do with that and began to slap me around. So, quickly I grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him, and doggone if he didn't become gentle as a lamb. The bishop will join me next week and we will give him first communion and start the process of confirmation."

The Pentecostal, the Rev. Billy Bob Bible spoke up next. He was in a wheelchair, with his arms and legs in casts, and with an IV drip. In his best fire and brimstone voice, he claimed "Well brothers, you know that we don't believe in sprinklin'. I commenced to reading the Bible to the bear, but the bear wanted nothing to do with that, or me. So I grabbed him before he left and we began to wrassle, and fell down a hill into a creek. Quick-like I jumped up and dunked his hairy soul, and doggone if he didn't become gentle as a lamb in an instant. We spent the rest of the day praisin' Jesus."

The rabbi had been silent all this time, and in fact was lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and in traction with all sorts of monitors hooked up to him. He was in bad shape, but was able to look at the other two and say "Looking back on it, I should have started by reciting the ten commandments to him. Circumcision may not have been the best way to start."

Ruth: Full Circle

In the first chapter of the book of Ruth, as Naomi returned to Bethlehem, she was greeted by a chorus of women, who greeted her: “Can this be Naomi?”

Maybe they didn’t expect to see her again. Or perhaps she was changed by time and grief.

In any case, Naomi responded with blame and bitterness: “Don’t call me Naomi. My name is now Mara (bitter).”

We can see a bit of a play on words in this exchange. The women were asking if this was Naomi, whose name meant pleasant. Naomi replied: I’m not pleasant but bitter.

But Naomi comes full circle by the end of the book. Again, the women greet her. This time, in Ruth 4:14, they don’t ask her a question but deliver a truth:
“Praise the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today.” (Ruth 4:14)

This chorus of women is a used as a device to reveal Naomi’s state. Where they once questioned Naomi’s condition – and she saw herself as misused and bitter – now they declare to her a new state: blessed.

Where she thought God had stolen away her family, these women remind her that he has instead miraculously restored a family to her.

The text calls the new baby the son of Naomi, which legally would have been true. Under the law, this new son would replace her husband and sons, providing her with the protection she needed.

Naomi was redeemed. And the women joyfully deliver the good news to her: God, whom you assumed had stolen away your life, has instead restored it. Praise the Lord.