The Needed Reformation

A Little History

As many of you know, or should know, the Reformation was a pivotal point in our Christian history. It took place in an era when the Catholic Church reigned supreme. Since the times of the Roman Emperor Constantine, the church had continued on a rigorous religious road, its apostasy reaching a peak in the 1500's. The church had become powerful, political, and prosperous. She owned vast amounts of land and had huge political influence; her clergy had become fat on the excesses of such perks privileges. Sound familiar? Don't weep yet, we're just getting started.

Enter Martin Luther, monk extraordinaire, a religious man now saved. He saw the grace of God and promptly got rejected by the institutional church. On October 31st, 1517 Martin Luther, armed with hammer and nails, affixed his ninety-five theses to the doors of Wittenberg Castle Church, decrying its privileges, excesses, and traditions of men. Modern Protestantism was born. 'Protestant’ comes from the word 'protest,' for that's surely what Martin Luther and his followers were doing; protesting against religion. A religion that valued show above salvation, and works above the wonder of truly being transformed by the power of God.

Alas, there are few protesters against the Catholic Church today and even fewer against much of evangelical Christianity that has turned back onto that road to Rome. As Francis Schaeffer said, “We need reformation and revival,” meaning that we need to get back to the authority of the Spirit of God and His Word, without which the Word has no power. I believe we need a reformation of The Reformation. People cry for revival, but a revival of the Christianity we have today, will simply increase our shallowness; placing us further down the road from the nail-scarred tree and nail-scarred doors of the church.

Rules, Regulations & Religion or Relationship

It took the church some 1,200 years, from the time of Constantine to Martin Luther’s day, to turn into the mega-organization it had become by 1517. In the last 500 years, we have seen some major organizations spring forth. It is hard for many of us to accept that truths, such as: the grace of God, salvation by faith, and the Word of God itself can be made religious. Yet, unless each generation embraces these truths of God, by His Spirit, religion surely will set in. When a true hunger for God is lacking, men begin to merely hold onto doctrinal principles instead of holding onto the power of God; and this is what we see today. Though America abounds with Bibles and the gospel pours forth via every possible media portal: the nation is undone. The cry of the prophet is not heard, and the sinner does not respond with the cry of repentance, yet we continue to teach, and teach, and teach. We are told that the principles work, that the law of God is like the law of gravity. We’re told to just put this law/formula into action in your life and you will prosper, people will like you more, your wife might even like you more, and if you buy enough of the preacher's books, you just might be as successful as he is.

These are the rules of the modern-day ‘reformation,’ but Christ is nowhere to be found, for it is a Christ-less reformation. We have God’s words but we do not have His heart, which has everything to do with His Son being formed in us, and very little to do with what we, in Western society, espouse as success. Doctrine is important, man's creed is essential to his conscience but not the most needful thing. Oswald Chambers said: “Theology is a great thing, so is a man's creed, but God is greater than either and the next greatest thing is my relationship with Him."

The cross brought us back into a relationship with God, from which the fall had separated us. Herein lies our eternal problem: we were separated, not only from God, but from all that He designed. We are separated from each other (hence the multitude of relationship problems); from ourselves (hence our psychological problems); from our environment (hence our ecological problems.) The cross redeemed us from such separations and healed all the breaches. He put us back in relationship with Himself: restoring our souls, healing our relationships, and giving us a proper view of the world. We know this theologically, and yet the institutional church we have today, seems to portray the opposite. We have mega-churches where very few people even know each other, where transparency would be impossible and real accountability is lacking. The man up front is usually way up front. In fact the only way to get a real good glimpse of him is to see him on a TV monitor. He is usually revered for his charismatic personality, fancy lifestyle, and administrative abilities. Holiness and brokenness seem incidental qualifications these days. Church is no longer a place where people pray, suffer, grow, and repent together.

Taking the Lord's Name in Vain

"Thou shall not take My name in vain." One of the first commandments God gave to Moses was concerning His name, that we should not take it in vain. The Hebrew word used here for 'vain' means empty or worthless. It means using the Lord's name in a light and frivolous way. Yet all across the land, the Lord's name is not only used frivolously, it is actually used in marketing. We stick His name on bumper stickers, bracelets, pencils, t-shirts, etc. I've given up on entering many Christian book stores, as I am usually greeted by rows and rows of junk and Christian paraphernalia that is designed, supposedly, as ‘witness’ tools. In reality these items have been marketed to a target audience, a specific consumer group. Now please bear with me, I am not judging the sincerity of those of you who have proudly worn a t-shirt as a witnessing tool, or have a "Jesus is my insurance" bumper sticker on your car. However, by vainly throwing out scriptures and the Lord's name with cheap merchandising, we send a message to the world. A statement that we are frivolous, easily manipulated, and that we have a cross-less, Christ-less Christianity. To some in America, Christians are not a holy people that put the fear of God in a community, they are seen as a consumer target group.

If you have held your tears until now you may weep. The church is to be a place of gathering and prayer, where the body of Christ is fitted together. It is not to be a place of commerce. Did not Jesus drive those who bought and sold out of His Father's house? If you want to sell pencils, then put your name on them, not His: sell them to the world, engage in commerce, and give all you have back to God. If you want to sell insurance, don't put a fish on your card and target those in the church, instead go to the world, sell your policies and hopefully lead men to Christ. Yes, I know that there is a business aspect we have to face on this earth, things must be administered etc: but only out of necessity my friend, or constrained upon us because the life of God demands it, and for no other reason.

Media Madness

In 1517, when Martin Luther printed his ninety-five theses, the printing press had just been invented. This innovative and world-changing tool was a major asset in spreading the beliefs of the Reformation. For the first time, Bibles were being printed in such numbers and affordability that the common man, if he could read, could obtain one. It was not the printing press that was so important: it was what Luther had to say. The press was simply a tool. It is hard for us now to imagine the impact the printing press had on that society and yet just eighty or so years ago, when television first came on the scene and the modern media movement was spawned, few would have realized its impact on society. While many preachers saw it as an evil device, there were those who saw it as a tool for the gospel. Once again, it was not the tool that was important but the message. For the first time the gospel was being carried directly into people's homes through this new media. Unfortunately, it was not long before the means of carrying the gospel was elevated above the message itself. The ‘ends justifying the means’ mentality convinced many that mass-marketing would produce mass revival. We believe we can create believers through slow absorption of Christianity, via education and familiarization. This is a sad counterfeit; in reality, we fail to work upon the basis of genuine regeneration, with the spirit of sonship becoming truly resident within a person.

We have so inundated the culture with our watered-down gospel that we have inoculated a whole generation against Christ’s gospel! We were convinced that if people would just hear or if they would just see, then they would know. Yet we have lacked the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Over the last fifty years, more and more teachings; more and more preaching; more and more principles and practices, have gone out through every conceivable media portal. Professional preachers are constantly bragging to us about Christian statistics and all the numbers who are coming to Christ. Yet the country is undone, sin abounds, God is mocked and the church is seen as powerless, prayerless, and without a prophetic cry. God save us from this media madness and bring us back to real relationship with You! Bring us back into real church that has everything to do with being a body, with Christ as its head, and nothing to do with structures, strategies and striving.

Testi (-ng your-) mony

When Martin Luther began his protest against many of the actions of the Catholic Church, he was not setting out to start a movement, or to begin a denomination (sorry Lutherans). Rather, he was testifying to the grace of God and His life. When the first disciples began to go out, they did not go to spread the mere teachings of Jesus or to propagate a new system of belief. The teachings that they had received, resulted from the acceptance of His testimony. They went out to testify to the very life of God they had experienced and were still experiencing. We must remember that The Gospels were not written to make Christians, they were written by Christians, already made as a testimony. The disciples were armed with the testimony of Jesus, not merely just His teachings.

What is this testimony? The testimony is the universal sovereignty and Lordship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, established by His resurrection from the dead.

We are to testify to this - His life - not to a lifestyle or mode of living, but to Divine Life itself. We like to testify of what God can and will hopefully do for us; how He has blessed us; provided for us; prospered us etc. Nonetheless, we do not testify of Him; His person, His life, His Lordship. We talk and talk and talk, when we should be testifying. We explain when we should be proclaiming. As Paul said in Acts 20:21, "Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." The God of American culture has been fashioned into a benevolent being that rewards according to our ability to apply His principles. This is instead of testifying of the person of Jesus who responds to our repentance and requires an acknowledgement and abandonment to His Lordship.

Hopelessly Helpless without the Holy Spirit

Much has been taught recently about the Holy Spirit and God certainly did awaken His church to many of these gifts in the last few decades. Like little children excited with all their presents, the Church ran off to play and failed to see our deep need to be truly filled, and submitted to the Holy Spirit. We must remove our rose-colored, religious glasses and look again to the crossroads and creation of the Church. Imagine a hundred and twenty believers assembled in a loft, waiting and praying for the One; for the promise that would enable them to step into the life that they had watched Jesus live. These were men who had walked with Jesus; they had seen His miracles and heard His teachings first hand. I'm sure they were staggered when Lazarus was raised from the dead, awed when Jesus walked on the water and stirred when Jesus was transfigured before their eyes. They had watched Him suffer then rise from the dead. They had seen Him carried up into the clouds and yet, in Act 2, we find them praying and waiting, just as He had instructed them to do. Why were they not out spreading his teachings on the day of Pentecost? Why were they not performing the miracles they had performed when He sent the seventy out in Luke 10? Why were they not starting this new denomination called Christianity? Because He was not calling them to spread His ideas but His very life. He had been taken from them and promised to send unto them His very life, His Spirit: the Holy Spirit of God.

Never before had men experienced indwelling, the way these believers soon would in Acts 2. The anointing had rested upon many men, but now the anointing was to be within (1 John 2:20, 27) On the day of Pentecost, God did not send down a handbook for life, or a bestseller on His principles. He sent the Holy Spirit to empower those believers to testify, to witness, of His life. His words would now be alive to them, and empowered when spoken by these vessels filled with His Spirit. It was never God's intention for any believer to live His life without being filled with His Spirit. I am not talking about being touched or moved, in a service by a particular message or moment, but yielding one's life over to the life and Spirit of God: the Holy Spirit.

Do you see how we have brought down to our own level, cheapened even, the work of the Holy Spirit? Shameless showmanship marks much of what we call His work today. He is the Holy Spirit and holiness should always mark His work. When the testimony of Jesus begins to go forth, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will have true reformation and true revival. It will burst wine skins and man-made traditions and systems. It will set aside things, even once greatly used by God, so that the fresh wine can flow. Just as Judaism ceased to count when the disciples were filled, so we too must be ever pliable and moving forward with the Holy Spirit.

There is a cost; and maybe this is what hinders the real release of what the Lord wants to do. Too many times we say that the old wine is better (Luke 5:39), and this is where we find ourselves today: holding on to many of our concepts about how the Holy Spirit operates, instead of embracing new wine. To step out for God by the Holy Spirit, is to invite persecution, but it is the only road to real recovery.

Brothers and sisters, we must be dissatisfied with mere teachings and principles, and again long for the real work of the Holy Spirit within our hearts. We have to get up to the high place again, the lofty place, the upper room and pray; and wait, and refuse to step out until we know it is the life of Jesus sending us.