To say, "I believe," taught Luther, is the same as saying "I trust." He stated, "Show me what you trust, what your heart clings to, and I will show you your God." He wanted us to understand that ultimate trust belongs to God. He taught us that the only thing our hearts should cling to is Jesus Christ, who brings God's love to us in person. Being a Christian is not just about being "saved." God has already taken care of that through the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus. Now God asks us to follow Jesus, to be apprentices of Jesus, by reaching out to others and showing God's love in the lives we lead and the commitments we make. To be a Christian means that I surrender myself to Jesus Christ in every part of my life. Martin Luther left law school shortly before graduation in order to become an Augustinian monk. He was deeply troubled by important questions of sin, guilt, forgiveness, and how all this related to a God who was, above all, both loving and just. Luther became a priest, then was sent to the university to study the scriptures. He earned his Doctorate and began teaching at Wittenberg University. During his studies and his teaching, he discovered in the Bible some things which were at odds with what the Roman Catholic Church was teaching. In 1517, Luther called for a discussion within the church about these issues. It was not his desire to start a new church, but the Pope, the Cardinals and the Emperor were not open to a Council on church theology and practices. They ordered him to recant" – to take back – all that he had written on the subject. He replied, "If you show me by common reason and the Scriptures that I am in error, I will recant. But if you cannot, I cannot and will not recant. To do so would be to go against my own conscience and the Word of God. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise." Many Christians broke away from the Roman Church and began to call themselves Lutheran. Martin Luther objected to this at first, insisting that Christ is the head of the Church and we should all wear the label "Christian." As the conflict deepened, however, the label "Lutheran" stuck with the breakaway churches. And so the Reformation was begun. Lutheran Theology is built around the four "onlys" which Dr. Luther first spelled out in 1520. 1. Only Grace (Sola Gratia) – Only God's grace, which is a gift God gives out of generous love, can save us. Moreover, grace is not a thing we possess, it is a state in which we live. 2. Only Faith (Sola Fides) – only Faith can bring us to God's grace. Remember, faith=trust. When we trust God in every aspect of our lives, we enter into God's grace. 3. Only Scripture (Sola Scriptura) - only the scriptures of the Bible can serve as the standard and norm for our doctrine, the boundary lines of our faith. 4. Only Christ (Sola Christi) – Christ brings us God's grace in person. Christ is the object of our faith. Christ is the Living Word of God and all the Scriptures point to him. Martin Luther taught that the Word of God comes to us in 5 ways: 1. The Living Word – First and foremost, Jesus Christ is the Living Word (John 1 - The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.); 2. Secondly, the Word of God comes to us through the Bible – ("The scriptures are the cradle in which the Christ child is rocked" - Luther); 3. Third, the Word of God comes to us through Proclamation (preaching and teaching); 4. The Word of God comes to us in the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion; 5. The Word of God comes to when as we gather together as the body of Christ because Jesus promised, "when two or more are gathered in my name, I am with you." (Matthew 18: 20) Today the Lutheran Church is the world's largest Protestant denomination. The Lutheran World Federation has 133 member denominations in 73 countries, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – the ELCA (www. elca.org). The ELCA has more than 5 million members in 10,852 congregations. There are 28 ELCA colleges and universities and 8 ELCA seminaries for training our pastors, theologians and teachers. To help heal divisions in Christ's church, the ELCA has established full communion with the Episcopal Church USA, the Moravian Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ. We have also reached a landmark agreement with the Roman Catholic Church on the doctrine of Justification by Grace. The ELCA is working to battle hunger, injustice and poverty here in the US and throughout the world through Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and Lutheran Social Services. The oldest ELCA congregation was founded in 1649. We began here in Glendale in 1912 and moved to our current site in 1954. Consider joining us and a worldwide team of people who look forward to all that God can do! |
Why Lutheran?
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