October 10, 2021
Jesus said: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23
It was coming into crisp focus for Martin Luther that there is no harmony between light and darkness. To uphold and defend one is to attack and overthrow the other. That is the ultimate choice we are all given to make.
Luther had purposed in the early days of his walk with the Lord to continue in learning and faithfully sharing and caring for the sheep as their shepherd. Even though it was not his intention to place himself in the midst of a battle, his proclamations of Biblical truth repeatedly conflicted with the traditions of the church.
One such tradition is a highly effective fundraiser for Rome: the sale of indulgences. Adherents to this tradition would purchase a certificate from a local friar or traveling representative from Rome which stated the power and authority of the church to mitigate the wages of sin. Many in Luther’s own congregation were presenting these certificates to him for absolution, not because they were penitent and wished to reform, but on the stated properties of the indulgence. Horrified, Luther doubled down on his messages from the pulpit, relaying his own personal and painful lesson: it is impossible for the works of man to evade the guilt of sin. The one who truly mourns over his separation from God must make the personal choice to repent before Him and grasp faith in His Lamb. Oh, how anxious He is to impart His Spirit to such a one! Only then can the heart-transformation from a lost condition to a saved condition be accomplished. Looking away from self with total reliance on the crucified and risen Savior suddenly lights the Way: that narrow path to life! And the true peace that the Prince of Peace brings is crowned with the oil of joy!
To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:3
Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14