Happy Reformation Day!

A little Reformation humor...

A Reformation Hymn

Since this is the week leading up to Reformation Day, all posts will have to do with the Reformation.

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Martin Luther, 1483-1546

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our Helper, He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His name;
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours,
Through Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
His kingdom is forever.

Doing Ministry Under Difficult Circumstances

Since this is the week leading up to Reformation Day, all posts will have to do with the Reformation.

After Luther's refusal to recant at the Diet of Worms in 1521 (and after already being condemned as a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church), Emperor Charles V placed him under a ban, known as the Edict of Worms. In that edict, the emperor decreed the following:

We enjoin you all not to take the aforementioned Martin Luther into your houses, not to receive him at court, to give him neither food nor drink, not to hide him, to afford him no help, following, support, encouragement, either clandestinely or publicly, through words or works. Where you can get him, seize him and overpower him, you should capture him and send him to us under tightest security.

How would you like to do ministry under those circumstances?

Though Luther was whisked away and placed in hiding after the Diet of Worms (translating the New Testament into German during that time), he eventually returned to Wittenberg in 1522 to continue teaching, preaching, and pastoring - living every day under that ban. Few, if any of us, have to labor under such difficult circumstances. Still, let us be challenged by Luther's perseverance, and let us strive to be faithful amidst our own hardships.

Luther before the Diet of Worms

Since this is the week leading up to Reformation Day, all posts will have to do with the Reformation.

As much as October 31 and Luther's tacking of the 95 Theses are celebrated as the beginning of the Reformation, in many ways, this was actually the moment that Protestant Christianity was born.

What the Reformation Was Really About

Since this is the week leading up to Reformation Day, all posts will have to do with the Reformation.

"The closer one looks, the clearer it becomes: the Reformation was not, principally, a negative movement, about moving away from Rome; it was a positive movement, about moving towards the gospel."

--Michael Reeves, The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation

The Morning Star of the Reformation

Since this is the week leading up to Reformation Day, all posts will have to do with the Reformation.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the era just prior to the Reformation. It is a portrait of John Wycliffe, who laid the groundwork for folks like Luther and Tyndale. Notice Wycliffe resisting the Roman Catholic authorities and clinging ever so tightly to his English Bible - something for which he eventually would be martyred.

This portrait says a lot about the significance of the time period leading up to and including the Reformation, and it speaks volumes about the incredible treasure of having the Bible translated in your own language. Thanks be to God for raising up men like John Wycliffe!

Here is the plaque that accompanies the painting at St. James Clerkenwell.

His Blood Shall Over All Prevail

I love the last two lines of this stanza by Toplady:

The Sinner's Rest
Augustus Toplady, 1740-1778

Oh, that I now the voice might hear,
That speaks my sins forgiv'n;
His Word is past to give me here
The inward pledge of heav'n.
His blood shall over all prevail,
And sanctify the unclean;
The grace that saves from future hell,
Shall save from present sin.

A Historical Glance at Colonial Baptists

"Persecution from the establishment - which ran from fines in New England and physical assault in the South, especially Virginia - was a steady fact of Baptist life into the 1770s. But for the opening geography of the colonies as well as for a society with opening ideology, the self-starting, lay-oriented, Bible-centered and thoroughly active work of the evangelical Baptists made them the mainland's most dynamic religious movement between the revivals of the 1740s and the Revolution of the 1770s. They were the primary beneficiaries of the Great Awakening. In the colonies of North America there were less than one hundred Baptist churches in 1740, but almost five hundred by the outbreak of the war with Britain in 1776."

--Mark Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism

A Good Definition of "Hymn"

Carefully considered theology, composed in memorable strophes, combined with equally memorable tunes, with the goal that the person in the pew can sing, memorize, and internalize the carefully considered theology.

--Wes Ramsay

Balm to Heal the Smitten Heart

Chief of Sinners Though I Be
William McComb, 1864

Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed His blood for me;
Died that I might live on high,
Died that I might never die;
As the branch is to the vine,
I am His, and He is mine.

O the height of Jesus’ love!
Higher than the Heaven above;
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lasting as eternity;
Love that found me—wondrous thought!
Found me when I sought Him not!

Jesus only can impart
Balm to heal the smitten heart;
Peace that flows from sin forgiven,
Joy that lifts the soul to Heaven;
Faith and hope to walk with God
In the way that Enoch trod.

Chief of sinners though I be,
Christ is all in all to me;
All my wants to Him are known,
All my sorrows are His own;
Safe with Him from earthly strife,
He sustains the hidden life.

O my Savior, help afford
By Thy Spirit and Thy Word!
When my wayward heart would stray,
Keep me in the narrow way;
Grace in time of need supply
While I live and when I die.

The Unity of the Bible

One of the things I am continually amazed by as I read the Bible is the multitude of ways in which the New Testament alludes to and fulfills the Old. There is an obvious yet mysterious unity to the Bible that is truly astonishing. It is one more piece of evidence that the Bible really is the Word of God.

As a student and preacher of the Bible, this excites my mind. As a believer in the God of the Bible, this thrills my soul.

Of a Rebel Made a Son

Saved By Blood I Live to Tell
John Newton, 1725-1807

Saved by blood I live to tell,
What the blood of Christ hath done;
He redeemed my soul from hell,
Of a rebel made a son:
O, I tremble still, to think
How secure I lived in sin;
Sporting on destruction's brink,
Yet preserved from falling in.

In His own appointed hour,
To my heart the Savior spoke,
Touched me by His Spirit's power,
And my dangerous slumber broke.
Then I saw and owned my guilt.
Soon my gracious Lord replied,
"Fear not, I my blood have spilt,
'Twas for such as thee I died."

Shame and wonder, joy and love,
All at once possessed my heart;
Can I hope Thy grace to prove,
After acting such a part?
"Thou hast greatly sinned," He said,
"But I freely all forgive;
I myself thy debt have paid,
Now I bid thee rise and live."

Come, my fellow-sinners, try,
Jesus' heart is full of love;
Oh that you, as well as I,
May His wondrous mercy prove!
He has sent me to declare,
All is ready, all is free;
Why should any soul despair,
When He saved a wretch like me?

The Beginning of Knowledge

"The beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a sinner."

--Augustine

Evangelists and Theologians

"If evangelists were our theologians or theologians our evangelists, we should at least be nearer the ideal church."

--James Denney, The Death of Christ