Most people see October 31 as Halloween. But there is another celebration that many Christians are not aware of, and that is Reformation Day. A monk by the name of Martin Luther started the Reformation on this day in 1517 by nailing the 95 theses (points to consider) to the Wittenburg door in Germany. The 95 theses started a debate that continues to reverberate to this day and will continue to do so through the ages.
The main point of those 95 theses was that our righteousness before God comes by faith and not by our works or good deeds. You cannot make what you’ve done wrong right by doing something else like penance/more good works/ paying money. Luther was converted on Romans 1:17 “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” No wonder, then, that when he read and believed this portion of scripture he said “Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates…”
Luther learned from the Bible that the holy and righteous God demanded righteousness and he (Luther) was not righteous enough to satisfy His requirement. Luther would confess for three hours and still feel unworthy. He learned from looking through the Scriptures that we are not merely sinners because we sin,we are sinners at the very root of our being. Sin is not what we do it is a matter of who we are. Nothing we can do can overcome that. He learned that it was futile to look to any mediator besides Jesus (1Timothy 2:5). We come to God only through Christ, and we come to Christ on the cross, for He bears the penalty of our sin and suffers in our place (Galatians 3:10-14). The resurrection is our victory over sin and death. We are not justified before God by our works or merits but by faith alone through grace alone. When God looks at us He sees the perfect work of His Son, not one spot of our sin. Christ paid for it in full. We are righteous because our Savior was righteous for us. Our great God is a merciful God who gives us the gift of faith through His Son Jesus Christ. He loves us with a love that is beyond the bounds of human imagination. This is the fuel behind everything we do to the glory of God. And when we live life – all of it – for the glory of God, we are engaged in the most profound of activities. We are doing something that matters truly and ultimately. In the service of the glory of God there is nothing little at all. Consider this October 31st be one more day of the year to celebrate what Jesus did for you.
Quotes from“The Reformation, How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World.”
