Eternally Significant

What are you celebrating? October 30, 2009

I try to pretend for the most part that Halloween does not exist. Of course, the hardest day to do that is Halloween day itself. Fortunately, that event is also an important historical date. It is Reformation Day, the anniversary of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses.

Here are ten facts about Luther that I am celebrating today.
1. Luther was almost 34 years of age (his birthday was November 10) when he posted his theses on the church door. He still had 28 years of ministry ahead of him.
2. His rediscovery and his formulation of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. If that was all he had done, he would be considered a great man.
3. His stand for loyalty to Scriptures. This is actually why he came to the point where he rejected the Church’s teaching of salvation by works and law and accepted the Bible’s teaching of salvation by Christ alone.
4. His boldness to stand against his opponents and for the truth of the Word of God. The “Here I stand…” statement is full of moral courage.
5. Wittenburg – It is a beautiful little town in which the university was seated that helped Luther propagate the truth.
6. The political leaders who protected Luther. I celebrate a God who can work political wills to his ways.
7. The influence of Luther on other reformers including Calvin, Zwingli, Menno Simons, etc.
8. That God could use such a flawed man to change the world for His glory. Luther’s flaws are well known but like David he was a man after God’s own heart.
9. The importance of the books of Psalms, Romans, and Galatians as seen through the transformation Luther underwent through his study and teaching of those books in the years before he posted the Ninety-Five Theses.
10. He is part of my historical and spiritual heritage. I am glad to identify myself with him (and that, though I am not and have never been Lutheran).