Time Magazine's Millennium Edition rated Martin Luther as one of the most significant people in the past 2000 years. We would tend to agree. Why? Was it because of his courageous action? Does it boil down to German pride? Hermann Sasse asked these questions in his book Here We Stand. His conclusion? We don't worship a hero. We don't celebrate heritage. In fact, Luther and the Reformation are not stories of human triumph or theological development. Sasse cited "the profound conviction of Luther that church history is not a history of what human beings have done, but a history of what the living and mighty Word of God has accomplished in its course through the nations of the world" (p.184).
This is all about the Gospel. This is not our story. It is God's story.
In The Message paraphrase of Romans 4, Eugene Peterson expresses the first part of verse three ("What does the Scripture say?") as: "But the story we're given is a God-story."
By God's grace, we are living in His story. This has powerful implications for mission and ministry--implications that follow the pattern of Luther's life.
What does being in God's story do?
Being in God's story creates in us to zeal for the Word of truth versus concern about personal status. Luther gave up his standing in the church and was willing to give up his life because the true Gospel was too important to compromise. Luther was not nitpicking about traditions. He knew that people would be lost eternally if the Gospel was not given free course. He understood that the light of Jesus Christ could not be placed under a bushel. The news of salvation by grace alone could not be blockaded by traditions of men. It could not be diminished into meaninglessness by the distracting and destructive "add-ons" of human tradition and contrivance. The main thing was the Word of life, and the Word of life had to get out into the world. God's story needed to prevail.
Being in God's story also grows in us a sense of servanthood verses a quest for control. As the institutional church sought to crush Luther, the Reformer focused on helping people understand and share the Gospel. Papal pawns worked to reinforce the control of those in command, but Luther continually brought people back to the Word of God. What gifts did God give? What was His calling? What is His mission? How is God dislodging us from our plans and preferences in order to serve Him and His people? Being in God's story leads us to be faithful script followers not commanding playwrights.
Finally, being in God's story leads us to expansive vision versus self-centered shortsightedness. I recently heard two pastors discussing which of them could get a certain church planter for the new missions they wanted to launch. What a refreshing conversation! The "competition" between these churches was all about new outreach. The energy of these pastors was being devoted to Kingdom multiplication. Instead of internal squabbles or a comparison of how each church was doing, an expansive and contagious Kingdom vision was taking hold. Being in God's story means the Church has an exciting future.
Who's story are you living? Through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the grave, you're given the gift of a God-story. Live it well.
