Mark: The Grace of Christian Maturity

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Gospel of MarkI had another post planned for today, but after being touched by Bob's excellent post on the life of Mark this morning at Gratitude & Hoopla, I had to reference it instead. If you haven't discovered Bob's blog yet, it's one of the most grace-filled spots on the Web and I highly encourage everyone to blogroll and visit it.

Today, he puts all the pieces of the Bible's few mentions of Mark together and makes a wonderful case for personal redemption. How the relationship between Mark and Paul changes over time, plus Mark's own growth in maturity and fearlessness is a beautiful look at commitment, grace, and the flexibility of relationships as they grow and mature—it's a devotional in itself.

I could say much more, but that would only take away from what Bob said so well, so just click the link and discover it yourself.

Have a blessed day!

Tags: Mark, Church, Faith, Christianity, Jesus, God

Continuing Reformation? Yes!

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Luther before the Diet of WormsOn Monday, I asked whether we had seen the last reformation within the Church. Many people believe Martin Luther's stand against the evils of the Roman Catholic Church was the last time God sought to reform His Church.

As you can probably guess, I don't share their opinion.

The Church is a living, breathing entity empowered by the Holy Spirit. As such, it will never live out the Faith in a manner that is static. God works His will His way in His time. Even as He raised up Martin Luther, He has and He will raise up others to call the Church back to His purposes.

The Spirit breathes where He desires, and you hear His voice; but you do not know from where He comes, and where He goes; so is everyone having been generated from the Spirit.
—John 3:8 LITV

We do not always know what God is doing, as He has not made us privy to His every action. But as surely as He works, He reforms, not only the individual submitted to Him, but the Church as a whole.

Because modern Evangelicalism has overemphasized the personal work of God in the life of the individual, we've lost the idea that God uniquely works within the Church as a whole. For this reason, too many of us Christians are satisfied with what we see changed in ourselves, rather than being satisfied with what God can change in the Church worldwide. Perhaps we've grown blind to reformation or have even opposed it because our vision has become so shortsighted, focusing on what God is doing in "me" rather than "us."

Still, I believe that reformation has come since Luther. There is a greater awareness of the person of the Holy Spirit and how He works than in some previous ages. I pray that remains and brings fruit within the whole Church. I believe that people are more attuned to the role of worship and praise in the believer's life. I also believe that some parts of the Church have awakened to the fact that the Enemy of our souls is fiercer than we believed him to be in some times past. All these little reformations need to expand and be taken seriously within the entire Church.

Some "movements" are seeking reformation status, but they will not survive unless they are ruthlessly true to the Lord and His Scriptures. All things of worth are tested by truth and time. If anything is of the Lord, time and the Spirit will reveal it. Men and women of God who are true to Him will see reformation in their lives and the life of their particular church.

The Protestant Reformation was one of grace. What reformation still needs to come?

  • A Reformation of Holiness and Consecration
  • A Reformation of Overcoming Faith
  • A Reformation of Prayer
  • A Reformation of the Knowledge of the Word
  • A Reformation of the Lordship of Christ

I'm sure there are more, but those five cannot be argued against. May God bring each of those reformations in our lifetimes!

Good things of God are being birthed. Reformation is ongoing.

Tags: Reformation, Holy Spirit, Church, Faith, Christianity, Jesus, God{Image: Martin Luther before the Diet of Worms}

Continuing Reformation?

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Martin Luther and his 95 TheseFrom the Shepherd’s Conference (so ably liveblogged by Tim Challies) last week, Phil Johnson led a seminar called “Is the Reformation Over?” It’s a good read. It’s also a riff on Mark Noll’s book of the same title, though I side with Johnson and not Noll.

Thinking over that question, I had another one: Is all reformation over?

What do I mean by that? Well, as you know, this blog’s main talking point is the Church, specifically the American Church. From the day that Martin Luther pounded his Ninety-Five Theses to the front door of the Cathedral at Wittenberg, we’ve lived in a Church Age in which Protestantism has been considered—at least by Protestants—as the sole expression of the True Church. The stand he took against a blasé Roman Catholic Church that had fallen into ungodly excess and a tax-code-like set of rules for salvation should resonate with us all. We’ve lived out nearly five hundred years of Luther’s assertion that salvation is by faith alone, not by works or any other man-made machinations. Thank God for Martin Luther’s obedience to the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures!

But I wonder if his is destined to be the only Holy Spirit-inspired reformation of the Church.

If we were living in the age of RCC theocracy, would we—like Luther—have recognized the errors of what was then considered the only Church in the West? Being in the belly of the beast doesn’t always afford a person the most objective view, but Luther saw beyond the innards and got it right.

But what if the 21st century Protestant Church has fallen into the same kind of mire as did the 16th century Roman Catholic Church? Are we in the need of a 21st century Reformation? Or have new reformations occurred on some level, but we’ve missed them for what they are, or have labeled them blips on the radar?

Can there be another Reformation? We’ve seen one of grace, but are other pressing Church issues in need of reforming?

What do you think?