Today we celebrated Reformation Day. We remember the beginning of the Protestant church. The church that started with a protest!
Rev. Grovesnor gave us three freedoms that we have because of our faith in Jesus. These freedoms were not available to the Jews who were under the Law in Jesus' time, and they were not available to the Catholic Christians in Martin Luther's time. Jesus set us free from the Law, and Martin Luther set us free from the corruption that was part of the church in the 1500's.
Freedom from Falsehood
Martin Luther was upset that the German people could not understand the Bible for themselves. The only Bible available to them was in Latin, and only the priests could read it. As a result, the people were at the mercy of the priests to tell them about Jesus and God. Luther believed that this was wrong, and spent years translating the Bible into German so that everyone could read it for themselves.
"To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32).
The Law was never able to free people from their sins. Only Jesus did that, through his death and resurrection. Jesus is the truth, and sets us free from all of the lies that the world tries to tell us.
Freedom from Fallout
Martin Luther spent much of his life trying to be righteous. It was why he joined the monastery to begin with. He thought that if only he could be good enough, he could be saved. lt wasn't until he finally read about the grace of Jesus Christ that he was able to understand that no matter how righteous he tried to be, it was always the righteousness of God that saved him from Hell.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24).
Our sin separates us from God, but thanks to Jesus Christ, we can be saved. We are justified through grace, not through anything we can do. Jesus took our sins to the cross with him, and we are able to go forward in freedom.
Freedom from Flagrancy
Martin Luther was upset that the church was using money collected from the people to build the ornate St. Peter's Basilica. Many of the people were poor, but were obliged to buy their freedom from sin through "indulgences." He realized that this was not biblical, and that the church was taking advantage of the people.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
We all have sins that we just keep doing. We have done them so long that they have become habits. We need to really look at ourselves and see the truth about ourselves. Jesus says that the truth will set us free. We can't be set free while trying to follow the things of the world. We can only be free by seeking the truth. It can be scary to see ourselves as we really are, but if we don't take a look, we won't be able to make the changes that will help us to draw closer to Jesus.
Rev. Grovesnor is currently preaching a sermon series based on the movie "The Matrix." It is a good analogy of what happens when we are "plugged into" the world. We go through life almost in a dream, doing what everyone else is doing. But, like Neo in the movie, we can become unplugged from the status quo, and can begin to live in freedom as God intended.
If you are local, we encourage you to come on Sundays at 11:00 to hear more teaching about how to unplug! If you are not local, but want to know how to find freedom in Christ, please feel free to contact us through the website, or through Facebook or Instagram. We look forward to meeting you!
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