I was recently asked, why am I posting a series of posts or tweets everyday about something from church history? Why are you doing that? Now, this is not exactly how they asked the question, but I understood what they were asking. So in case you are not familiar with that I am doing daily on my social media accounts let me bring you up to speed and then explain why.
October 31st 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenburg Germany. After the completion of the NT, this is the most important date in the history of God's people. On this date, Luther changed the course of not only the history of the church, but in fact the entire history of the world. If Luther had not posted the 95 theses, stood his ground against the direction of the church, and called for reform, the Evangelical, Protestant, Missional church of today, would not exist. And in fact millions of people over the last 500 years would be headed towards hell. I would be hurtling towards my eternal fate of hell, if it was not for the stand of Luther. This is why this date is so critical to know, appreciate, and learn from. On October 31st 2016, the church celebrated the 499th Anniversary of that event. And on October 31st 2017, we as a church will celebrate the 500th Anniversary of this monumental and eternally significant event. In honor of this date, in the final year, leading up to this event, I am posting important facts, dates, people, places, and events that must also be remembered and known, on top of Luther's 95 theses posting. Every day, by a given number, I post something important from the last 2000 years of the church. So that is what I am doing from October 31st 2016 to October 31st 2017.
But why am I doing this? The first reason I am doing this is to celebrate and honor this most critical of dates. Luther was a man of history. When he fought the church and brought reform, he used most importantly the Scriptures, but he also used the understanding that the church of history and the great church fathers, like Augustine and John Chrysostom brought. Luther understood what he was doing when he stood on his convictions. He got that he was bringing reform to his church, but also impacting the generations to come. So I want to honor this man and his courage by following his example and using history to teach and inspire the stand I take. I stand with Luther on his convictions, most of his beliefs, and his courage. So what better way to sand with Luther, than to point people to know what he knew and what has shaped us since.
The second reason I am posting a daily thought about church history, is to teach the church today about its history. If we do not know and learn from history, we are bound to repeat it. Too many Christians today could careless about the history of God's people, both in the Bible and since its completion. We need to be a people, in the church, who know our history well and learn from it. So I am using my influence, impact, and knowledge to teach people critical things about the history of us. If we do not know our history and what it taught us and how it has impacted us, not only are we bound to repeat the same mistakes, we are also bound to fall to heresy and head in the direction of death. So I am posting from history, to teach about history.
The third reason I am posting about the history of the people of God in the church is for myself. Posting everyday has taught me. I have learned and grown as I research and find important facts and truths to post. I have read on church fathers that I knew little about, so I can share the info. My understanding of the history of my people has grown and I knew this would happen. I have also become more grateful for the men, women, councils, and events that have shaped who I am and have become. Calvin, Augustine, Edwards, and Machen are men that have made me who I am. The Councils of Nicea and Orange have taught me what I know and hold to. I have become grateful for the history of me and how history has shaped me into who I am. Gratitude has become a result of my heart. And I have lastly grown theologically in my understanding of who God is, as I have seen more clearly this year how He has sovereign control in shaping my history over the last 2000 years. Without God's control in men like Patrick, John Owen, and R.C. Sproul, I would not be who I am, and God has controlled ever element of those men and in their influence on me. If it was not for Constantine's conversion, the sermon "Sinners in the hands of an angry God", or the Pentecostal movement, I would not hold to what I hold to. And I have seen more clearly than ever how God has shaped me through these events. So I have grown deeper in God, through these postings. So this last reason for posting is for me.
And these are just the top three reasons I post daily a thought about the history of God's people from the last 2000 years. The reasons and list could go on and on, such as; for the growth of a few people I love, for the benefit of other pastors, so my children can grow, so the world would see and hear truths, and on and on it goes....
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