New Doors
in Thoughtful Thursdays on October 24, 2017
A couple of years ago, Jeff and I were in the market for a new front door. We had been systematically sprucing up the house, and evidently the front door was next on our list. Now, the front door we had was a beautiful door. It was mostly beveled glass and dark oak. It really was a nice front door. Question: If it was so great, why did we change it?
Put a pin in that for a minute.
We’ve spent a lot of time together over the last several weeks walking through different doors. Some have been Closed, others Broken, and still others have been Old and Sticky. We’ve walked through each one of those with a nobody-monk from Nowhere, Germany… Martin Luther did not mean to start the great Reformation. He only meant to open communication lines with the Catholic Church.
Today, we are walking through a brand New Door; but we walk through that New Door with the Father of the Reformation. Once the initial scandal from the Diet had passed, Luther came out of hiding and began his ministry in earnest. He never stopped writing, commentating, or preaching. He made the Word of God readily available to the people, and the gift of forgiveness open to all.
Luther was bold and outspoken. He was a rebel with a cause. He rubbed people the wrong way and ruffled too many feather to count. Is it any wonder why I love him so much? Who burns an official document from the Church?! He did. He fought for what he believed in. He stood his ground. I don’t believe he fully knew the repercussions of his actions on October 31, 1517 or the ripple effect it would have throughout history. The nail he put in the old door at Wittenberg, was the first nail of the new door of the new time to come.
As for my new door, why replace a seemingly perfectly good door? From a distance, our old door looked great; however, as you approached our front door, you could see the how the iron was starting to pull away from the glass, and the actual cracks in the glass itself. The door needed repairs. We handed that project off to someone who was better suited that we were, and we replaced the door to our home with a new one.
It is virtually the same thing with Luther. From a distance, the door to the Catholic church looked great. It was stately and beautiful with all of her traditions, but as you look closer, you begin to see her cracks…her flaws. Now, in the beginning, Luther tried to repair those flaws, but was met with staunch opposition. The only real solution was to replace the door. Remember last week, when I talked about Sticky Doors? I told you that sometimes the door needed to be repaired or even replaced, and sometimes the issue is foundational? Well, in the case of the Church, the foundation is solid as long as it is built on Christ. Luther was not disputing that issue…therefore, the door was the only thing severely damaged. He needed a new one.
We have one more week left…the Grand Finale. Next Tuesday IS the actual 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. I’ve enjoyed our time together. Stay with me for one more week of history…then I’ll return us back to my crazy kids!
-Dallas