The
Message that Never Grows Old
In the messiness that is the Christian life,
believers tend to major on the minutiae, the pet issues that develop in the
heat of debate and render our witness as shrouded in mystery. We develop intricate points as to what
exactly happens to the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, how God’s election
takes place temporally, and when exactly Christ will return for his
church. Although the larger issues of
the Lord’s Supper, election, and Christ’s return are hugely important for the
Christian to understand and believe within his heart and mind, the details of
how all these things work often escape our view. Calvin called entering into these matters
speculation. In the Institutes of the
Christian Religion, Calvin writes,
“Not to take too long, let us remember here, as
in all religious doctrine, that we ought to hold to one rule of modesty and
sobriety: not to speak, or guess, or even to seek to know, concerning obscure
matters anything except what has been imparted to us by God's Word. Furthermore,
in the reading of Scripture we ought to ceaselessly to endeavor to seek out and
mediate upon those things which make for edification. Let us not indulge in
curiosity or in the investigation of unprofitable things. And because the Lord
willed to instruct us, not in fruitless questions, but in sound godliness, in
the fear of his name, in true trust, and in the duties of holiness, let us be
satisfied with this knowledge. For this reason, if we would be duly wise, we
must leave those empty speculations which idle men have taught apart from God's
Word concerning the nature, orders, and number of angels. [Calvin's Institutes:
I.XIV.4]
These speculative matters do not bring about
the edification of God’s people, so they are not to be investigated, for they
are unprofitable. Yet, if certain matters
of doctrine are speculative as to cause harm to the believer, certainly there
are significant teachings that should cause us to focus our gaze upon
them. The great Wittenberg Reformer
Martin Luther was a man who devoted his life to finding what was central and
most important for the believer, and thus relayed these truths to his
people. On a Sermon on the Afternoon of
Christmas Day, 1530, Luther made this point in his sermon,
Therefore, this is the chief article, which
separates us from all the heathen, that you, O man, may not only learn that
Christ, born of the virgin, is the Lord and Savior, but also accept the fact
that he is your Lord and Savior, that you may be able to boast in your heart: I
hear the Word that sounds from heaven and says: This child who is born of the
virgin is not only his mother’s son. I
have more than the mother’s estate; he is more mine than Mary’s, for he was
born for me, for the angel said, “To you” is born the Savior. Then ought you to say, Amen, I thank thee,
dear Lord.[1]
The only proper response for the one who hears
the good news being proclaimed to Mary and unto the world is Amen, this is
true, and I give thanks for this, Lord.
Luther is right in stating that it is not enough to think that Christ is
Savior of the world but not of yourself.
No, the good news never grows old because Christ is my Savior and your Savior,
and though we live in a frenzied age where every account is measured by the
work we do, the good news is that your works don’t figure into the equation of
how God’s salvation in Christ works. The
cross is the great equalizer because every man, woman, and child is in
desperate need for grace, for they have fallen headlong into sin and their
lives are captured by its clutches. But,
in the tender mercy of God, he has paid the price, defeated death and hell, and
brought us to God. Faith is believing
that what Christ has done on our behalf is enough and is complete, not adding
to his work with a prayer, a priest, or a verbal muttering of words. The heart of the Reformation and of the
church today is the good news of the gospel, and that it would be adorned by none
other than Christ himself and his promises.
[1]
Martin Luther, “Sermon on the Afternoon of Christmas Day”, Luke 2:1-14,
December 25, 1530, in Martin Luther’s
Basic Theological Writings, Edited by Timothy F. Lull, Minneapolis, MN:
Fortress Press, 1989. 231.
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