Greetings;
Today I wish to speak on how evil it is to have blogger be taken over by that huge great whore of Babylon known as "Google". Yes, their search engine is most excellent , but I just went through the worst time of getting this stupid thing to work again. I had to change my name and password for some crazy reason and I almost lost the blog.... but not to worry for the Reformer is not going anywhere. Well, that is until "The Man" starts to censor people like myself... anyway that concludes my rant against Google.
Now, I wish to post a most interesting dialog from one of Martin Luther's Table Talks:
Dr. "Luther, if I believed like you, I would do anything I please. "
Luther: "Exactly. And as a child of Christ . . . what pleases you? "
I think that this is a fundamental point that must be made if one is to understand the doctrine of sanctification properly. The point of this very small, yet very profound, dialog can be summed up as this: 1) there is liberty in Christ, 2) this liberty, by necessity of the work of Regeneration, must be guided by a Christian conscious.
Let me fist put forth the doctrine of Liberty in Christ.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:13-17)
Yes it is true that in the olden times the people of God were committed to rules and regulations and ceremonies, but these were not an end of themselves. They were not a means of salvation: for Hebrews expressly states that no man was justified in the sight of God by the blood of bulls or animals.(Hebrews 10:1-4) Rather, these things were carefully designed by the Father to remind the people of their condition and of the ultimate sacrifice that His Son would make in His Life, Death, and Resurrection. Let me take this principle, if I may, and say that we should not set modern regulations for ourself today beyond that which the Scripture sets forth. I wish that I could paste the entire fourteenth chapter of the Book of Romans (I encourage you to read it yourself), but I shall quote only verse 17:" For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." The context is Paul discussing arguments that are within the Church that are not Scriptural. Some do not wish to eat or drink something while others do, but they were taking their own opinions and making them the law of God. Which, I must say, does not set very well with the Lord. The point of Christianity is not to make one big long list of do's and don'ts but, rather, it is to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ.
This brings me to the second point: that this liberty is guided by the Christian conscious. Paul, again in Romans 14, says that if someone wishes to eat meat then let him do it. If another only wishes to eat vegetables then let him do it. However, this does not extend to legalism. If I had a friend that had an abusive alcoholic father, and therefore did not like alcohol, I would never mention the word wine around him. I could not think of destroying a relationship with a brother over a silly beverage. Yet, if I went to dinner with someone who asked me not to drink because the Bible says it is a sin, I would most likely order a round for everyone in the establishment. Why? because it is totally different when someone has an issue and asks out of courtesy. It is a completely different thing when someone tries to make a non-essential issue a key point of Sanctification. That is one thing that I would never tolerate.(Of course all this is hypothetical because I don't drink. I am merely using this as an illustration.) And so Paul, instead of speaking laws and regulations, speaks to us the truth. Paul teaches us to do what we want to do on the grounds that we will naturally love our brothers and sisters in Christ if we are truly regenerate.The mind has been renewed, and we have passed from death unto life. We no longer live to our sinful will, but our wills have been-and are being- transformed to the will and mind of Christ.So, if we love God we will wish to do what He wills for us to do.Therefore, I leave you with this simple phrase: "Love God, and do as you will."
ReformationMan
Labels: Conscious, Liberty, Luther, Table Talk