LIBERATING GRACE
As a seminary student in the
mid-seventies, I enrolled in courses on Church History. One of our required readings was “Here I
Stand: A Life of Martin Luther” by Roland Bainton. Although Martin Luther is best known as the
‘father’ of The Protestant Reformation, his personal struggle with the reality
of God’s grace resonated deeply in me.
Below, I will summarize a portion of Luther’s grace journey, as
recounted by Mr. Bainton.
In 1505, a 21-year-old Martin Luther
was walking toward the village of Stotternheim, Germany, when the sky became
suddenly overcast. A raging storm blew
up and a bolt of lightning flashed through the sky, knocking Martin to the
ground. “St Anne help me!” he cried out,
“I will become a monk.” Martin had grown
up in a medieval culture filled with great fear and he thought the lightning
had been launched at him by God as a message, a glimpse of the terror of the
Judgment Day. Martin knew he needed to
preserve his soul and thought the best way to do that was to become a
monk. So off to the monastery he went to
seek God’s grace and mercy.
After becoming a priest, he was
invited to celebrate his first mass. Martin’s
family came for the occasion. The chapel
was filled; the psalms were sung. Then
Martin took his place behind the altar and began. But just moments into the mass, he was struck
by sheer terror. Here he was, in his own
words, “miserable and little…dust and ashes and full of sin” daring to speak to
the living, eternal and fearsome God.
Somehow Martin got through the mass
and kept going as a monk, but those initial experiences reflected his terrible inner
struggle. He got to the point where he
was convinced that God was so pure and holy no-one could ever hope to be saved.
All mankind would be abandoned to the
torments of hell. In Martin’s words, “More
than once I was driven to the very abyss of despair so that I wished I had
never been created. Love God? I hated him!”
Then in 1513, 8 years after that
thunderstorm, 7 years after that first terrible mass, Martin had a third great
religious experience. He was lecturing
on the book of Psalms at the University of Wittenberg, followed by lectures on
Romans and Galatians. It was during
those studies that Martin Luther discovered a life transforming insight from
the gospel – that God’s requirement for us is not perfection, but faith.
“My situation was that, although an
impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner deeply troubled in conscience,
and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage Him. Therefore, I did not love this just and angry
God, but rather hated and murmured against Him.
Then I grasped that the justice of God is that He, through grace and mercy,
justifies us by faith. Whereas before
the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly
sweet in a greater love.”
My friends, there is absolutely
nothing we could ever do to merit the grace of Almighty God. The very best we can do is to “come boldly to
the throne of grace” and bow in humble and heartfelt submission before Him.
(Hebrews 4:16) By this simple act of obedience and faith, we make our covenant confession
to Jesus Christ. Thereby, we enter His
school of discipleship, becoming lifelong learners and walking daily with
Him.
It’s a grace thing. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) Also read
the biblical book of Romans, chapters 6-8.
One praise chorus that I love has
these simple yet powerful lyrics:
Grace…grace…God’s
grace…
Grace
that can pardon and cleanse within;
Grace…grace…God’s
grace…
Grace
that is greater than all my sins.
No comments:
Post a Comment