It is not a new story -- pundits and the populace are abuzz with the latest sports (football) melodrama. At stake is the reputation and eligibility of a young sport star. Perhaps we are too quick with our judgments, but we do not need to look far for examples of wrong doing. And that makes it easy to come to a quick conclusion, without all the facts, and assume guilt. Yet, we live in a world with much compromise -- in sports, in politics and in people around us; there is so much inconsistenc
y that nothing really surprises us anymore.
Then we look to the Reformation and find a man of deep conviction, a man without compromise. I was recently gripped with an account of Martin Luther, the Father of the Reformation, standing strong in the transforming power of the Gospel. Facing certain death from his persecutors at the Diet of Worms he was told he must recant. His response? “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.” He did not compromise, even when faced with death. Michael Reeves draws the reader into the historical moment as he outlines these events in his excellent book, The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation.
How did Luther have so much integrity? Why would he go against the teaching of the Church? Why leave the comfort of “popular thought?” Why make waves? Luther had been gripped by Romans 1:17, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
God took hold of Luther’s heart and transformed him from a man with questions to a man who had answers. He was a man who sought a way to remove his own guilt, and was transformed into a man with a clear conscience as He understood the Gospel of Christ. He had received Christ’s forgiveness and righteousness from “Christ alone,” through “faith alone,” by “God’s Grace alone,” as he learned through “Scripture alone.” Truly his story was a story that God was weaving for “his glory alone.” (The Latin word for alone is “sola” and these phrases are known as the “Five Solas” of the Protestant Reformation.)
So, are there any righteous? Are there any who seek God? The third chapter of Romans (as quoted from Psalm 14 and 53) is abundantly clear: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Luther knew that his righteousness in Christ was alien to his flesh. It was a gift of God. This transformed him into a righteous man who lived by faith. In a day and age when we are constantly disappointed by both the actual and alleged failures of sports stars, I pray that you and I will be called all the more to live godly, consistent, unequivocal lives of integrity for the glory of Christ. This is the result of a heart that is changed by the power of the Gospel.
