by David Newby

 

Sure, I'll do anything, but don't ask me to change!

I remember something Bill Wilson (New York Children's Ministry) said that really stuck with me - "People change, but not much!"

It would be true for most of us that we put a lot more energy into resisting change than assessing and adopting it. This adds credence to the old saying that "Some people's minds are like concrete, all mixed up and permanently set!"

To gain some insight into where this book is leading, we need to look back in time to the era before the Reformation, when the need for change was patently obvious but resistance to change was strong

October 31st, 1517 is generally considered to be the date on which the Reformation "officially" started. This was the day on which Martin Luther posted his 95 theses relating to the doctrine and practice of selling indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church. What Luther did was to make a public challenge against the unscriptural practices of the Establishment.

However, for over 200 years before that date, Reformers were beginning to emerge throughout Christendom with revelations of truth from the Scriptures which refuted the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and which were drawing true believers into lifestyles that were based on the truth of the Scriptures. This occurred throughout Europe with unrelated groups of people. It was Jesus Christ building His Church, the Holy Spirit being at work revealing and teaching TRUTH to those who were seeking Him.

Below are some of the beliefs and works of John Wyclif or Wycliffe (c.1324-1384), who was one of the very early Reformers in England1. Change had to come to bring the Church into conformity with the Scriptures and the will of God - it was only a matter how long it would take.

1. He recognised ministries among the non-ordained
        believers.

2. He attacked the worldliness and immorality of the monks
and priests.

3. He advocated that Papal authority should not influence
kings and civil authority.

4. He stated that Papal decrees have no validity except so far
as they are founded on Scripture.

5. He attacked the doctrine of transubstantiation.

6. He opposed the spiritual domination of the priesthood.

7. He was opposed to the multiple ranks of the priesthood.

8. He asserted that the early church had but 2 levels of clergy
 - elders and deacons.

9. He advocated a simpler form of church worship.

10. He sent out lay preachers to preach, teach and work
where the Catholic clergy were negligent and wherever there was need.

11. He translated the Bible into the common language of the
 day.

12. He defended the right of the people to read the Bible in
 their own tongue.

While Wyclif did not champion the "priesthood of all believers" as such, it can be seen that he was moving in that direction in very positive ways. He was certainly a radical thinker in the light of the beliefs of the day and the control that the Roman church exercised in this regard. He asserted the duty of believers to "rebuke an unworthy priest, nay, if need be, to judge and depose him"!2

This was radical thinking indeed in the light of the Roman ecclesiastical power and control over the affairs of Christendom at large.

Miraculously, in spite of his blatant attacks on the doctrines and practices of the Catholic church, he lived out his years without being burnt at the stake, unlike many of his Reformer brothers. Some forty years after his death and in order to demonstrate the hatred felt for this wonderful man of God, the pope ordered his bones be exhumed3. They were burnt and the powder was scattered into a stream. His followers, the Lollards as they became known, did not have it quite so easy, being persecuted and ultimately forced to disband4 .

The Roman Catholic Church ruled throughout Europe. It had power, wealth, organisation and no end of people in her employ including nuns, monks, priests, canons, patriarchs, cardinals and the pope. There were huge cathedrals, abbeys, monastries, robes and regalia - external excellence and beauty of every kind. To those in power, the Catholic church was excellent and perfect in just about every way…… but their bubble burst with the emergence of the Reformers and the Reformation.
The history of the Reformation was not always a happy one, with many of the Reformers in disagreement over all sorts of issues and doctrines. But one thing is obvious - truth kept being revealed, and the true believers kept marching forward.

As we sit back and look objectively at the big stewpot that the Reformation and consequently Protestantism became from 1517 until today, we see many doctrinal ingredients that have helped the Church to develop right up to where it is today.
 * salvation by faith
 * practical holiness
 * believers baptism
 * world evangelism
 * the Lordship of Jesus Christ
 * baptism of the Holy Spirit
 * the Kingdom of God
 * the return of Christ
 * restoration of understanding of the five-fold    ministries
 * Body ministry
 * unity of the Body of Christ

These are just some of the truths that have been restored to the Church, and God is still at work, teaching us and helping us to realise these truths. Many of us even today have watched some of this unfolding during our lifetime. 

All these things have come out of the ongoing Reformation!

Throughout this entire Reformation period (up to the present), an interesting characteristic of man became evident. When a group of people grasped a newly revealed truth, they would get all excited and put it into action. They would try to promote this truth to others. Then there were those who resisted this revelation and chased the "heretics" out with persecution, so that a new group of believers was formed, with this truth as a central focus. As time went by, more truth would be revealed. This however, became divisive as some people in the group wanted to appropriate it while others rejected the new. Separation occurred again because the old made it hard for the new to stay, and even persecuted them.

Perhaps this occurred because:

a) those who resisted moving forward remembered the persecution and trouble they had
experienced earlier and did not want a repeat of the same treatment, or

b) constant defence of their original 'new' truth blew it out of proportion so, with bigoted
tunnel vision, they attacked anything that did not fit into their by now well established paradigms, or

c) lack of real spiritual life in the second and subsequent generations allowed empty form
to follow, thus flesh clashed with spirit in the new revelation.
Such was the case of Luther who championed salvation by faith, but had difficulty accepting that practical holiness, or a changed lifestyle, resulted necessarily from the salvation experience. Otherwise we are back into salvation by works, he argued. His main stumblingblock was the Book of James, which strongly asserts that "faith without works is dead", which means faith leading to salvation produces a changed lifestyle of practical righteousness and true holiness. Luther is supposed to have said that he would like to remove James from the Canon of Scripture.

Thus, in the wake of the Lutheran movement, the Pietist movement gathered momentum in Germany, Holland and France. These were the believers who knew God wanted Christians to live holy lives. They were forced to separate themselves from those who had a profession of faith but lived ungodly lives. The Wesleyan revival of the 18th Century was the English parallel of the German Pietist movement5.

Many of these were also Anabaptists- those who asserted that the only valid baptism was "believers" baptism. They rejected their infant baptism or christening as unscriptural and were baptised again ('Ana' means "again").

In carrying out their beliefs they raised the ire of the "Big Three" - the Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed churches who persecuted and slaughtered thousands of Anabaptists in the 16th Century. The result was the flight of (amongst others) the Huguenots (France), Mennonites (Holland) and Brethren (Germany) groups to England and North America, but only after many years of persecution and martyrdoms6.

Looking back we find it amazing to think that those who had been the object of persecution by the Roman church for their beliefs could turn around and in their turn persecute others on the same basis. Yet this only confirms the weakness of men and the resistance of the flesh to change and the desire to stay with tradition. Yet God will always challenge us to move from our comfort zone into complete reliance on Him.

And still today in Christendom, many believers become defensive about what they believe, or what their church or tradition believes. Not necessarily because it is right, but because it is what their denomination has always believed.

We must not and cannot defend the Scripturally indefensible!

We must be in Reformation mode constantly. We must be hearing what Holy Spirit is saying to the churches (Revelation 3:6). We must be allowing Him to lead us into all truth. We must be like the Bereans, searching the Scriptures to see if what we are being taught is of the Truth (Acts 17:11).

We need to see the big picture!

The goal of the ongoing Reformation is the completion of the Church that Jesus Christ is building. We are to become the Bride of Christ, full of His glory, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Ephesians 5:27). All believers are to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (peace comes from the Greek eiro which means 'to join together'). We, the Church, are one. We are supposed to be together. Our destiny is corporately singular and universal.  (Ephesians 2:14-18)

We need to be objective and see as God sees!

Many individuals and denominations are motivated only to promote and grow their own churches or movements. If you are not part of them, you get no support or encouragement.

This begs the questions - Whose kingdom are we building?? Who is our King???

We need to understand that -

The Reformation is incomplete!

Why?

Because we have moved from works to faith, but then replaced faith with performance. We feel the need to do things to keep in good with God.

Because we have moved from law to grace, but then replaced grace with expectations. As church members we are told that there are things we must do and standards we must comply with, the implication being that these are necessary if we are to continue enjoying the grace of God. We have developed a notion of the unlimited grace of God towards unbelievers, and the conditional grace of God towards believers.

Because we have only partly moved from ecclesiastical priesthood to the priesthood of every believer, but have not removed the separation of clergy and laity, pastor and people.

Because we have not released servant body ministry, but have adopted church leadership in a secular and old covenant sense.

Because we have encouraged people to receive Holy Spirit empowered gifts, ministries and abilities, but then corked the bottle of "lay ministry" to preserve the positions of power and privilege for the select few.

Because we have been saved from the kingdom of darkness, but have not fully appropriated the Kingdom of God, but rather incorporated just the savoury parts of His Kingdom into our own.

Because our focus has slipped from saving the lost to prospering and entertaining the saved.

Perhaps other items could be added to this growing list…… and some of these may be taken as generalisations or not even applicable. It would be true that many Christians are free in regard to these errors, but some of these points do apply in many places.

The Holy Spirit will not rest until the Lord Jesus Christ reigns supreme in the Church. His truth is to be the standard, not our personal opinions.

What then is the purpose of God in completing the Reformation?

To establish His new covenant Church.

This is the one, true Church of which Jesus said "I will build My Church……"  (Matthew 16:18 KJV). The key word in this verse being “I”.

This was taken from the authors book "THE BUBBLE WILL BURST"

David M. Newby
www.teamministry.com.au

This entry was posted on Friday, September 23rd, 2005 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Biblical Leadership, Church Structure, Living Christianity, Reformation/ Revival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.