Happy Reformation Day

Today, 490 years ago, Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 points of debate to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. This is sometimes portrayed as an "I'll show you" act of defiance on the part of Luther. Such was hardly the case. The church door was the community bulletin board. Luther was merely asking for an academic debate on points regarding the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church.

The radicalness of what Luther was asking for came to light when these 95 points were printed and published throughout Germany by someone other than Luther. This is a day worth celebrating for the Bible-believing Christian. While the desire for reform in the church didn't start with Luther, the actual ability to begin reforming the church started during the time of Luther (Prior reformers were either killed or otherwise effectively repressed).

The issues which came to be seen as the core issues for church reform then remain with us today. Perhaps the central issue raised by the Reformation is not merely about the necessity of the grace of God in our lives. It is, as Dr. James White has pointed out repeatedly, not the necessity of the grace of God of but its' sufficiency. In the issue of our standing right and acceptable before God (justification), is God's grace sufficient for us or merely a means to "reduce the gap" that separates us from a holy God and allows us to finish the job?

The Reformers would emphatically state that God's grace in standing in the right before Him was not the means to help us to work to finish our salvation. It is sufficient due to what Christ has done and not us. We live in an era in which those who want to add human merit to the work of Christ are gaining a greater voice. In response, we must affirm that when Christ said on the cross "It is finished", He really meant just that. Such a gospel humbles us. We are not co-redeemers with Christ. Christ holds that position alone. The Reformers re-discovered the legacy of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Today is a wonderful day to remember that legacy and the Gospel of grace which frees us through Christ alone.

In the words of the song "Be Ye Glad"...

Be Ye Glad, O, be ye glad

Every debt that you ever had

Has been paid up in full

by the grace of the Lord

Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad...

Happy Reformation Day!!!

The Core of Our Faith

Today is Good Friday. It is during this weekend, during the days of Maundy/Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday that we remember the core events of the Christian faith. It is during this time that we remember the start of the practice of the Lord's Supper which is continued to this day as a remembrance of the Lord Jesus' sacrifice of Himself on the cross for our sins.

We remember the events of Good Friday and the incomprehensible price paid by Christ to free us of our sins. On Sunday, we will remember the raising back to life of Jesus in His body. It is both a continuity and a discontinuity. Scripture is clear that this is the same body in which Christ died. Yet, this body has been more than revived. It has been given a life which will never end. (The implications of this are staggering. From that day of resurrection right up to today and beyond, Jesus Christ has been and IS alive in bodily form, the first human being to do so).

Prayer played a large part in these events which happened in real time and space. On Thursday night, Christ offered up prayers to be spared the suffering of the cross if possible. Yet, His prayers brought Him to the place of accepting God the Father's will for Him. On Friday, Christ speaks few words. He is mostly silent. Yet, in the midst of a physical and spiritual agony that none of us could possibly imagine, He prayed that those who were crucifying Him would be forgiven.

In your prayers this weekend, may I suggest that you thank God for Jesus Christ. What Christ did on the cross cleared the way for us to have the confidence to approach God in prayer. The veil separating God and humanity was ripped in two that day. In Christ, we have access to God and the life which truly is life.

The School of the Solitary Place wishes you a blessed Holy Weekend. (The picture is Rembrandt's "Raising of the Cross" c. 1633)

Merry Christmas

In your prayers today, ponder the wonder of God fully manifest in Jesus Christ. True God. True Man. Enough to keep theologians busy for millennia. Profound enough to move us and inspire our prayers for eternity.

To all the readers of this blog, a blessed and Merry Christmas from the School of the Solitary Place!!!

Oh, by the way, the answer to the puzzle. The lockers which are perfect squares remain open (1,4,9,16,...961)