Historians usually date the start of the Protestant Reformation on the 31st October 1517, with the publication of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses.” Its ending can be placed anywhere from the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, which allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany, to the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War. The key ideas of the Reformation were basically a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible should be the sole source of spiritual authority, and not tradition or other man-made decisions or documents. Although these ideals were not entirely new, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and the other Reformers became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience.
It is without doubt that the Reformation was a great blessing used by God to reform the then church. The intolerable yoke of paying indulgencies, doing good works, participating in the mass where Christ was crucified again and again, was a burden far too great to carry nor was it prescribed by Scripture as a way of salvation.
Traditionally, many protestant churches will hold a ‘Reformation’ service as we are doing this afternoon. However. let us not think that the ‘Reformation’ can save us. Someone reminded me about the ‘Reformation’ that King Josiah brought about way back in 2 Kings 22-23. King Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, unlike his father King Amon and grandfather King Manasseh who both did evil in the sight of the Lord. In brief, Josiah ordered the repair of the temple and, in obedience to the Book of the Law found there, campaigned against idolatry in Judah and Samaria and reinstituted the celebration of the Passover. And because Josiah was obedient and expressed sorrow for his sin and the sin of the people, God delayed the promised disaster that was to come upon Judah and Jerusalem for their earlier years of neglect and disobedience.
After Josiah died, the pattern of doing evil in the eyes of the Lord began again. Jehoahaz (Josiah’s son) was made king but did evil in the Lord’s eyes. When Jehoahaz was captured by the Egyptians and deported three months into his reign, Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim (renamed Jehoiakim), became king. He also did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. Although Josiah’s reforms were a blessing, they did not save the nation from God’s punishment. Within a short space of time, the Babylonians invaded, and God’s people were taken into exile. Likewise, with respect to the Reformers, the Reformation of the 1500’s will not save us either.
According to Scripture alone, there is only ever been one way to be forgiven and saved unto eternal life and that is by trusting in Christ alone and His wonderful, completed work of salvation. And we can only partake in this salvation by God’s grace alone as He powerfully works in us by His Holy Spirit creating the gift of faith alone through which all the wonderful promises of God, not least the blessing of salvation in Christ come to us. Considering all this, it is only fitting that all the glory goes to God alone too!
Today we can be thankful for the blessing God brought to us through the Reformation and the freedom it gained for us in Christ. May it be a great reason for worship today as we meet with the saints. JZ