Wow, what a month...it has been very busy as I have been teaching the Bible College students the entire month (we had a teacher drop out so I had to fill in) and Hannah has been helping out with English Day Camps at the church all month.
I was going to just give a little update about what we have been up to this last month, but then I remembered what was significant about this 31st of October. And I am not talking about Halloween.
Tradition teaches that on October 31st, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his "95 Thesis" to the church door in Wittenburg, thus sparking the protestant reformation in Germany, and ultimately the world.
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| Martin Luther |
Whether Luther did, in fact, post his disputes on the church door we do not know—Luther himself does not talk about doing this—but he did send his 95 Thesis to the Arch Bishop of Mainz on October 31st.
October 31st, 2017 is the 500 anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and the birth of the Luthern Churches.
The publishing of Luther's thesis not only was a significant event for church history (particularly those of us who belong to "Protestant/Evangelical/Reformed" denominations) but also for European and world history: resulting in not only freedom of religion for many regions in the Holy Roman Empire, but also political independence for many of the states that belong to the Empire (it is one of the significant events that added to the break-up of the empire).
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| A painting of Luther meeting with the Cardinal |
(Yes many view Reformation and Martin Luther positively, but many also view the Reformation and Luther negatively. I view it positively but do see some negative effects caused by it as well—this post is not to critique the event)
500 years, Martin Luther's legacy is significant, but I wonder: "Did Luther know or expect his actions to have such a long-lasting impact on history? Do any of us think about the lasting impact of our actions (good or bad)?
Obviously, Luther's legacy is not the only one that impacts us today. I am preparing to teach "Church History: Ancient & Medieval Church" taking students through significant events from the days of the Apostles up to the dawn of the Reformation. There are many men and women whose legacies we will explore in the course. Did any of them look this far ahead and think, "In XXX hundred years will they still be talking about what I did?" I doubt it. Yet they still took actions that left a legacy.
The theme of leaving a legacy was what this year's Victory Asia Summit was on: "300-year plan." Th idea was to encourage our leaders to think just beyond themselves and their lifetime. The secret to doing this is not investing in projects or building, but investing in people.
We cannot intentionally leave a legacy...there is no way to force future generations to remember us (at least not in a positive way), we cannot even choose what type of Legacy people will remember us for, but we can choose to "run our race." We can choose to live our lives in a way that betters others, we can choose to follow the teachings of Jesus and live out the "Great Commission." Martin Luther did not set out to leave a legacy, he did not even set out to reform the church; he simply wrote his bishop and published his "95 Thesis" in order to bring to attention to the church leadership some errors in theology that he saw other priests and friars were using to take advantage of the poor (not knowing that the very "theology" he was trying to correct was being handed down directly from the pope, and not some overzealous friar's liberty). Martin Luther set out to stand up for the poor and needy, to defend those who could not defend themselves and ended up creating history. No, we cannot choose how others will remember our legacy, but we can choose to live a life of integrity and in service to God, a life of building others up, preaching the Gospel and making disciples, "fighting the Good fight" "running the race" (and the numerous other encouragements to live well we find in the New Testament). We can choose to live our lives in humble service to God and let him determine our legacy.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
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| Luther at the Diet of Worms; the trial that would determin if Luther was a heretic, and would also decide if Germany could have a church independent of the Roman Catholic Church |
So whats your 500-year plan? What are you doing today to leave a legacy?
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