Praise the Lord for this first day
of October. We had some strong winds and heavy rains around the area
yesterday. The Autumn leaves have started falling. For us it was a very bright
and beautiful day yesterday as Alice and I drove down to beautiful Baltimore,
the Parlor City. Laureen drove up from Washington and met us there. It was
great to see her. Later this week she is flying to Memphis, TN to spend some
time with her friend Kelly.
We will meet for our Wednesday
Evening gathering for fellowship and Bible study at 6:30 PM following a special
meal at 6 PM. The adult choir will practice at 7:30. Dr James Geer, Ph D, will
be presenting "Martin Luther" on Sunday, October 19 at 7 PM at the Union Center
United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive, Endicott, NY 13760. Those of you who
live in the area please join us. Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church, used a
man named Martin Luther as the harbinger of the Protestant Reformation in the
Church. During the Protestant Reformation, there were some salient foundations
which were described as the five solas.
Sola is the Latin word for alone. We are saved by grace
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The Bible alone has the unique
authority to speak about these things. All of this is done to the glory of God
alone.
The core foundation "Christ
Alone", extends back to the Gospels and to the
early church. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." The early church took
this to heart. In the Book of Acts, Peter was testifying before the Sanhedrin,
the high Jewish court in Jerusalem. There Peter was interrogated about a man
whose legs had been healed. They wanted to know how this miracle happened, how
this man was saved. Peter answered: "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man
stands before you healed." He then went on to say, "Salvation is found in no
one else; for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we
must be saved."
This is solus
Christus—salvation in Christ alone, healing through Christ alone,
redemption through Christ alone, the kingdom of heaven coming to earth through
Christ alone. This has been a core, must-have confession for the church's
entire history.
This statement is offensive in the
corrosive, corrupt, and confused culture of today. (But it was equally
offensive to the legal, moral, and religious authorities of Jesus' day.) The
claim that Jesus is the only way of salvation sounds arrogant or narrow-minded.
Unfortunately, Christians can frequently be arrogant and narrow-minded. We can
make wrong judgments about others without truly knowing them. We can be
self-righteous. But the church has not confessed salvation in Christ alone for
2,000 years in order to be smug, arrogant, or narrow-minded. We confess this
belief because we know who Jesus is. Jesus is unique. There is no one like Jesus. There is no one who can do
what Jesus does.
Jesus finds us in dark and messy
places, like the midst of doubt and depression. He finds us in places filled
with sin and shame. He alone offers us new life, new purpose, new
destiny.
In Christ,
Brown
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