Pastor’s Thoughts – 11-01-2026

Sometimes from our limited perspective, our Lord seems to have moved history very slowly and rarely according to our understanding or expectation. Often the things He has revealed in His Word we do not comprehend until they occur. Consider the church age in which we live. It has now lasted for two thousand years, and much of the development of the church has been marred by ungodly thinking and behavior. Its history has largely been driven by another gospel, which Paul declares is not the Gospel (Gal. 1:6-8). Even though God has always had His remnant of elect in every age, more than a thousand years of the church age has largely been engulfed and characterized by darkness. This week we celebrate the founding of the Reformation movement. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic Priest, placed what are called Ninety-five Theses on the Wittenberg Church door. These were corrective statements protesting the theology and practice of the ruling Roman Church that had directed the affairs of Christianity since the third century. Such direct protests and confrontations over doctrines and practices were unprecedented at the time because of the power and heavy hand of the Roman Church over all of the religious thinking.

During the many years that the church was directed by Rome, it had evolved increasingly away from true Christianity. At the time of Martin Luther’s awakening to this great apostasy, the Roman Church was engaged in selling indulgences to make money for the completion of St. Peter’s Cathedral. These were certificates that gave the purchaser the promise of an advanced forgiveness of future sins which the purchaser desired and would commit. Luther had come to grips with the evil of the church and its wicked deviation from truth. From his own study of the Bible, Luther was acutely aware of his own sinfulness and the holiness of God. He knew from Scripture that reconciliation with God could only come through Jesus Christ. He sought to bring the church back to the teaching of Scripture – that salvation was by grace through faith alone in Christ alone.

It was extremely dangerous to speak against or in any manner oppose the teaching or authority of the ruling church. The ruling church had become like those in Christ’s time who were committed to their own self-serving religious ideas rather than to Christ. Today we celebrate the faith of Martin Luther and the other reformers who were persecuted by the Roman Church, and many became martyrs. We are so grateful for their bravery and devoted commitment to bringing God’s light into the darkness. Up until the Reformation the supposed Christian world was engulfed and led by a false system. God moved to restore reliance upon the Scripture instead of reliance upon papal authority and religious counsels. This movement of God is so important in history that it should be celebrated. And we should give thanks to God for His intervention and correction through these men we call reformers.

When we reflect on how God works according to His timing and ways, we see His sovereign hand through the years of the church age. It is sobering to understand that even the reformers, who were dedicated to the Scriptures to the degree of facing death, did not perfectly possess and react in God’s timing with full understanding. Luther is correctly criticized today in Christian institutions for his antisemitic writing. He did not understand God’s covenant promises for Israel. He also later would become part of the antagonism and even persecution of those who sought greater reforms such as the Anabaptist.

When I think about our heroes of the faith, I recognize that each one had weaknesses and failures in their life. This is seen as consistent by engaging in a careful study of those listed in Hebrews chapter eleven who are given to us as examples. We learn from their faith, and appropriately honor them, but we do not worship them or consider them as attaining perfection. Knowing the weak points, even of our heroes, helps us move our confidence from men to Christ and to His Word. I am aware of my own failures, and at times of other people whom I have had the privilege of knowing as the finest of Christians. And yet all of us possess weaknesses.

Paul made it clear that we should put no confidence in the flesh. He elaborates the correct placement of confidence in his writing of Philippians chapter 3 to be fully in Christ. Even the best of elect men are yet fallible men. During the years of my Christian experience, I have known and repeatedly seen a tendency to place too much confidence upon some men. There are denominations and individuals who study the writings of past saints, and put their writings on the same level, or unknowingly above the Scripture in forming their beliefs. We can learn from the saints of old, and from one another, but our deepest confidence must always be fixed on Christ Himself and His Word.

We are indebted to saints of the past who have lived faithfully and sacrificially for Christ. We are thankful for the reformers. We have God’s Word today, our greatest possession, through their faithfulness. Yet even more than our appreciation of them is our gratitude that God has so worked in time and circumstances to bring us His truth. We will see Martin Luther in glory along with the same Anabaptists of which there was harsh disagreement. In the meantime, we will marvel at what God is doing in saving undeserving sinners, and we will celebrate Christ Jesus, and thank Him for so great a salvation.