As well as being Halloween, the 31st October marks “Reformation Day.” It’s the anniversary of the day when Martin Luther launched his protest against the Catholic Church. Now, I don’t think that Reformation parties are likely to catch on or engage culturally as an alternative to Trick or Treating, so if you were planning one, think again.
However, this is a good time for Christians to give thanks for what God did more than 500 years ago. Nowadays, we probably need to restate why the Reformation was and remains a good thing.
The simple answer is that the Reformation recovered crucial things that matter and had been lost or distorted by the church. Specifically, these include a dependence on God’s Word alone for special revelation, secondly, that God’s Word pointed us to justification alone by God’s grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. The Reformation countered false teaching, superstition and legalism.
This should help us to remember that we still need those things to be at the forefront today. The Reformation as a battle for the Gospel is not over. In fact, it is if anything wider because those same dangers of false teaching, superstition and legalism are present in many different expressions of Christianity. They can even creep into our Evangelical Churches.
We should be always reforming. So, today is an opportunity for us to consider where we most need reformation right now.
Faithroots 