One of the first lessons I learned was that allowing a political leader, who at best operates out of the flesh, is detrimental when allowed to be a “Christian” voice. While it may have been good that Constantine ended persecution of Christians, tying citizenship to Christianity ensured that many false converts were made, instead of repentant sinners who ‘counted the cost.’ After all, if you are offered money, a robe and citizenship over getting baptized, would you really be identifying as a sinner in need of Christ, or simply looking to get a few benefits? Sadly, as time went on, just as in the period of the judges, wicked popes and church leaders perverted the truth and polluted the Christian faith.
I honestly think the second lesson I learned was not placing too much importance on tradition. Growing up Lutheran, I experience a great deal of church tradition, much of which descended through the Roman Catholic Church and filtered through the Reformation. However, not knowing the origin of certain practices, I’ve imagined that how I grew up was how Christianity has to look like. Consequently, I failed to honor and find value in other expressions of the Christian faith, instead becoming a little proud and indignant. Additionally, things such as incense seem really cool, but considering they were practically for reducing body odor of the parishioners, I don’t want to imagine it some sort of holy, symbolic thing. In other words, I definitely find great value in tradition, but it is helpful for the mature believer to learn the origins of many traditions, to continue to purify oneself of compromise that has subtly crept into the church.
The third lesson to be learned is the value of allowing the Holy Spirit to be the teacher and leader. While many of the Reformers brought back the truth of the Gospel, some like Luther had both a bad mouth and bad attitudes. Hoping Jews to be burned or Anabaptist attached to stone and thrown into water isn’t exactly displaying the love of Christ. And I wonder how much time Luther spent asking the Lord about different issues, as opposed to perhaps reading the scriptures and logically developing theology out of his own understanding. I’m sure there was a certain level of this, but clearly there were some major issues in Luther’s heart that did not facilitate Christ-like love. Perhaps if Luther spent more time asking the Lord, perhaps he would get God’s heart for Israel and been a little more compassionate to different Christian perspective, even if he thought they were off on secondary doctrinal points. Unlike Luther, I hope not to be a man of my time, but a man lead by the Spirit who transcends time and culture.
