We Need Another Reformation
More than 500 years ago from the Sunday, a brave monk walked up to the door of the Wittenberg Church and nailed a set of thesis to the door. It set in motion a series of events that would change the church, and by extension of the church the world. It was an incredible act of bravery, as people had tried to challenge the church hierarchy before and lost their l lives. Yet, in that big risk the Holy Spirit brought about real change, a Reformation.
The word reformation is a Latin word, and it has a simple meaning.
the action or process of reforming an institution or practice.
I would put before you, my friends that we are in need of another reformation. Not of the church, but of the family and of the community. There was a time when we knew our neighbors, and our neighbor’s neighbors. There was a time we invited them over for dinner. There was a time we invited our own family dinner. We have allowed ourselves to become too busy, too distracted, and too afraid. It took a lot of courage for young Martin Luther to go up to that door and knock into it a message. How much courage will it take for us to go up to our children’s door and bring them down for family time? To go to our coach’s door and tell them that on Sunday you and your kids will be in church….and that he is welcome to join you. To go to your neighbor’s door and thank them for being in the neighborhood.
Every time you talk to someone you are walking up to the door of their heart. What message are you delivering?
Is it the message that:
We were formed by God:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. – Colossians 1:16 (ESV)
Or that he sent His Son to reform us:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
– 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
And we are sent out into the world with the Good News of that Reformation:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
– John 20:21 (ESV)
oes this mean you might have to make yourself vulnerable to this world…. yes it does. But Christianity was started by a God who made himself vulnerable to this world. It has been passed generation to generation by those who have taken the gift of faith given them by the Holy Spirit and became vulnerable in its sharing. This Reformation season don’t pray for safety. Pray for opportunity. Thank God for the lives He has reformed, is reforming, and will reform. Pray for a reformation of the family and of the community, trust that God will give you the words to say (But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to respond or what to say. In that hour you will be given what to say. – Matthew 10:19 ESV) and like that monk, go knock on a door. Trust God to do the rest.
Here I stand,
-Pastor Dan