Martin Luther -

The Hammer

Luther was born to a copper miner’s family on 11/10/1483 in Eisleben

His father had wanted him to become a lawyer, and that is what Luther intended to do as he attended college

Received his bachelor’s degree at 19, 1502

Received his master’s degree in 1505, age 22

That summer, july 2nd, Luther was on his way home from school, and encountered a severe lightning storm

Fearing for his life, he cried out, “Help me, St. Anne; I will become a monk!”

See, Luther, throughout most of his life, had this deep fear for his soul. He felt that something was wrong, even if he didn’t know why.

And so, on July 17, 1505, being “saved” from the lightning storm by “St. Anne”, he entered the Augustinian Order of Friars, and he became a monk.

And we’ll see today, even bad decisions God can use for good in our life.

Luther’s whole mentality as a monk was this: I’ve angered God, and I need to appease Him somehow, in some way.

His understanding of God was off, but that is what he was being taught

Luther even quoted once, “If I could believe that God was not angry with me, I would stand on my head for joy.”

Let me ask you this, when you think of God, how do you think of Him? Someone who is inherently angry with you and you have a list of things you have to do to keep Him happy? Or a God of love?

And let me say this, how you live your life is a clear sign. If you only read God’s Word....because you have to....or if you only pray....because you have to.....or if you go to church....only because you have to; you are very close to this mentality that Luther had, and I fear you don’t understand God for who He truly is.

Luther received his Doctorate of Theology at age 28 in 1512, and was finally allowed to teach the Bible…which meant he now spent his time reading the Bible, instead of Aristotle

And have you guys noticed the trend in all of these reformers. God’s Word. When they discovered God’s Word and what it really said, they began to be changed.

In my opinion, it’s very hard to be a Christian if you haven’t read this.

And as Luther taught on Psalms, Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, his heart began to wonder and stir and change, and he realized the Gospel, he understood that the catholic church had mis-interpreted repentance to mean “do penance”

And then 1517, it all kicked off for Luther.

Pope Leo X authorized the sale of indulgences

Which basically meant this: deceased loved ones were in purgatory for not doing enough “good” in life, so the catholic church sold indulgences, the famous line being this, “the moment a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”

The catholic church was building a new sanctuary and needed money, so they guilted people into giving to it by telling them they were helping their parents, grandparents, kids, anyone who had died be free from purgatory

And this set Luther off

He nailed 95 Theses to the castle door of wittenberg, that spoke against the catholic church, pope, bishops and councils

One of his students at the university where he taught took them, had them copied and distributed them around Germany

And you can imagine Pope Leo wasn’t too thrilled with what he read, summoned Luther to Rome, Luther didn’t want to go.

Luther states that the pope could err and had errored.

Which if you remember from a few weeks ago, John Huss did the same thing and was executed.

So Luther himself was in some trouble here, and he knew it, and he didn’t care

Luther had discovered the true meaning of righteous, he discovered God wasn’t a God of wrath, but a God of grace

Marriage example: take on each other’s things

In 1518 Luther appeared before the Leipzig council and again stands his ground

The dreaded papal bull is issued which if you remember was a death sentence.

Luther took the papal bull that was presented to him, and lit it on fire.

In 1520, he appeared at the Diet of Worms

Was told to recant

Responded with this, “I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the council, because it is as clear as noonday that they have fallen into error and even into glaring inconsistency with themselves. If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God’s word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me! Amen.”

Before his appearance he had been guaranteed safe passage to and from the diet and it was granted

But as he is on his way home, the emperor condemned Luther to death

Meaning this.....anyone, at anytime, could find Luther and kill him, with no fear of punishment

So Luther’s friends, kidnap him, and take him to the Castle at Wartburg

His name was changed and he spent his time translating the NT into German

In 1525, still hiding, he got married and had 6 children

which was a big deal

In 1537, Luther, still alive, remarkably, started to have health issues

The Black plague - killed 60% of europe population

rat fleas - kill rats - turn on humans for food, and in 8 days you would be dead

I mention this because, Luther, in a picture of neighborly love, opens up his home to people affected, putting his wife and children and himself at risk.

And his youngest son almost died because of it

But Luther continues to get worse in health

acid, kidney stones, arthritis, heart issues, and severe digestive disorders

He once remarked, quite comically, how loud it was when he broke wind that the next few villages over probably heard him!

But he lives on for 4 more years and loses his life to his health issues

Application

Luther was the head of the reformation, the man who ignited all the embers that the others had been laying.

When he nailed those 95 theses to the door, the reformation was well and truly lit

1. Even in the midst of bad decisions we make, God can use them for our good.

Sure, we probably aren’t going to make a promise to St. Anne and join a monastery and waste years of our life.....

But we will do things wrong, that’s our natural sin nature

But we are never too far gone

2. It all started with a proper understanding of the Scriptures

Because he had access to them, he could finally see God’s grace

He understood that they needed to be properly translated, which is why he translated the NT into common German

But he also saw the centrality of Scripture to faith. Which is what I mentioned earlier. We have to have this to understand our need. The Spirit of God and the Word of God are tied together. If we lose this, we lose hope

2. Luther understood the importance of being faithful to this word of God

He was a preacher who never used jokes, never told stories, never really swerved from this format:

Read the text

Preach the context

And get out of the way

Since God’s Word is the key to the Gospel and mankind understanding of God, why should we stand in the way?

3. Finally, Luther understood that the only way is justification through faith alone.

He read and read and read over and over and over until he understood.

Have you understood this?

Or do you view God as a God you have to please by doing good things.

We can’t do it. We are only made right because of God’s love.

And so our journey through some of the Reformation leaders is complete. I hope this has done at least 1 thing for you, as I think it has for me at least.

This book right here, as I’ve read about 20 of these reformer leaders, I realized in my own life that I do not value this book, I do not read it, I do not pour over it like I should.

And I’ve been convinced in these past few weeks that if I will do that, if we will do that, we’ll see God in a way we’ve never seen Him before.

That’s your challenge. The Word of God and the Spirit of God are intertwined. We can’t know God without His Word. And if we don’t know God, well, that’s a dangerous place to be.

Read this, challenge yourself to ten minutes a day to start, and pursue God in a new way.......