Written
and Presented by His Lordship: The Right
Rev. Dr. Elijah Dennis Ejila. Presiding Bishop King Jesus Ministries Inc.
Lamin
Village, Kombo North, WCR, The Gambia
9877271,
Email ejilakings@yahoo.com
EASTER
IN THE LIGHT OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 500 YEARS
Bible
Reading
“They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha
they offered Him wine mixed with mirrh, but He did not take it. And when they had crucified Him, they parted
His garments costing lots upon them when.
What every man should take and it was the third hour and they crucified
him and Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in two
from the top to the bottom” Mark 15: 22-25,37,38;
“But he said to them, Do not be alarm you seek
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the
place where they laid Him”. Mark 16:6. “He(Jesus Christ) who was delivered up
because of our transgression and was raised because of our justification”.
Romans 4: 25.
“But
God demonstrated His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us. Much more then,
having now been justified by His blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God
through Him” Romans 5: 8-9.
INTRODUCTION
We
give thanks to God Almighty who in His graciousness and benevolence enables us
to witness another Easter in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility in The
Gambia. As we therefore begin to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ it becomes necessary to once again reflect
on the truth and on the main significance of Easter.
In
this year`s Easter Message, I would want to re-focus on what the true meaning
of Easter is to us as Evangelical Christians. And as such we shall reminiscence
on the great Protestant reformation that eventually led to the multiplications
of various denominational groupings within the Christian faith.
It
is now exactly 500 years when Martin Luther the great German Priest and
Professor of theology launched what later turned out to be the protestant
reformation.
On
October 1st 1517 Luther nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to the door of the
Wittenberg Castle Church. The 95 Theses,
later would become the foundation of what become known as the protestant
reformation.
The
foundation of Professor Martin Luther’s work was however laid by the early
church philosopher St Augustine (340-430) who emphasis the supremacy of the
Holy Bible and who also taught in his writings that humans could not reach
eternal salvation by their own acts, but that only God could bestow salvation
by his divine grace, this was contrary to the belief held then by the
“established Church” as it was, that salvation was possible only through good
works of righteousness that is pleasing to God and that salvation could be
maintained through paying of penance or punishment for the mistakes and wrongs
that one does.
The
first two of the Theses contained Luther’s central idea that God intended
believers to seek repentance and that faith alone, and not deeds, would lead to
Salvation.
Actually
the reality of what Christ’s death accomplish for us as Christian believers
mirrors exactly the central message of the protestant reformation hence the
need to reaffirm once again “that Christ Jesus was delivered up and crucified
for our sins and that He was raised for our justification”. Romans 4:25
Isaiah
53:10-11. “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief.
When thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hands. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied, by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities”.
The
Easter narrative focus on two major parts namely the events leading to Christ
physical death on the Cross, His Burial and His Resurrection.
WHY
CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS
The
Holy Scripture from where we draw our authority has made it very clear that the
purpose for which Christ came to the world and died on the cross is for the
atonement of sins.
The
Evangelical community plans to converge in Wittenberg in Berlin Germany in late
May 2017 in what is known as “Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag” during this
time, events of various kinds will be staged, from biblical and secular
lectures to arts like music, drama and dance. It is an event that hopes to
attract well over 140,000 participants from all around the world. Top political
office holders past and present who share in the evangelical faith are expected
to grace this occasion.
During
this celebration focus will be on the gains, challenges and the future prospect
of the reformation 500 years after. The
reformation has over the years touched on every aspects of life of the ordinary
Christian world-wide.
It
is not coincident that the Kirchentag is taking place 39 days after Easter and
exactly 11 days to Pentecost, this is so because the evangelical message of the
reformation is more properly communicated by the events that happened from Good
Friday to Easter Monday, which has always been and will remain so, that “the
eternal Salvation of a sinner is obtained through faith by grace alone without
any human merit”. And this was the reason Easter happened.
Today
which is 500 years after, we among the Protestants and especially modern day
Evangelicals and Pentecostals and some other groups who are referred to as the
holiness movement are still discussing and grappling with the theological
challenging argument that was once settled by the Reformation. And this is in
regards to what qualifies a sinner to obtain eternal salvation. Questions such
as these are still been asked. “Is the salvation of the sinner wrought through
human works of Righteousness?, Are we saved from the damnation of hell through
our good works of charity? Can our salvation be lost in the cause of our life’s
journey? What does Apostle James meant when he wrote thus “Faith without works
is dead” James 2:26, was he contradicting Apostle Paul who in his letter to the
Galatians wrote thus “By the deeds of the law shall no man be justified”
Galatians. 2:16. Time and space will not permit me to do an exhaustive
theological discuss on these topics but I intend to establish once and again
that what brought about the reformation beside other equally important
theological issues was more of the need to establish with scholarly evidence
the facts that the eternal salvation of the sinner is obtained by grace through
faith in Christ alone without any human merit. And this I must say is exactly
the reason Easter happened.
“that no flesh should glory in His presence.
But of Him are you in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. 1 Corinthians 1:29-30
“For
God so loved the world and he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” John 3:16.
“For
by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man boast”. Eph.2:8- 9.
“Not
by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he
saved us……… which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life”. Titus 3:5
In
our efforts and struggles to distance the Christian faith from the moral
failures of believers through Puritan’s ideologies and to present a pure,
blameless and “undefiled bride” to the world.
We have ended up miss-representing the meaning of Christ’s mission on
the cross. Especially the suffering, the insult, the pain of the crucifixion
and the glorious resurrection.
Apostle
Paul in his treatise to the Galatians wrote thus.
“I
do not frustrate the grace of God but if righteousness come by the law then
Christ is dead in vain”. Gal.2: 21
What
we must come to accept is that there are two parts to the Christian
experience. First is the Salvation experience
or what the scripture term as the new birth or regeneration or spiritual
adoption, it is also known as Redemption.
This
takes place at the moment of salvation it is freely given to a sinner who puts
his/her faith in Christ, it is not given on the account of ones works or will
it be retained on the ability to keep the promises of Christ likeness.
This
gift of eternal life or salvation cannot be lost; it cannot be improved upon.
It is entirely the work of God which He wrought in Christ at Easter.
This
is the reason Christ died on Good Friday and Resurrected on Easter Sunday. It is to make salvation absolutely free. This is what apostle Paul advocated in all
his epistles, he nor any of the other biblical writers never contradicted
themselves in their presentations and this is what Professor Martin Luther saw
and communicated to his audience 500 years ago and this is what am advocating
today that, “The just shall live by faith”. Galatians 3:11.
The
second part of the Christian experience is the execution of the spiritual
life. Many of the scriptural
instructions given in the Holy Bible to live a godly and a practically holy
life falls within this category.
A
child born into a family may lose his inheritance at the end of the day if he
continually fails to represent the family values and norms but he/she will not
receive a blood transfusion so as not to be identified as a permanent member of
that family. If salvation is not on merit then, it cannot be lost.
Romans
11:29. “For the gift and calling of God is irreversible”
I
will like to quote from Wayne Grudem book on Systematic Theology page 724.
“In
Gods legal declaration of justification, he specifically declares that we are
just in His sight………………….This is what Martin Luther so clearly saw and this is
what gave such motivation to the reformation when the good news of the gospel
truly became the good news of totally free salvation in Jesus Christ………….. In
God legal declaration of justification, he specifically declares that we are
just in his sight. This declaration involves two aspects. First, it means that he declares that we have
no penalty for sin, including past, present and future”.
As
we celebrate Christ Death, Burial and Resurrection an event whose main message
is all about unconditional forgiveness and acceptance into the family of God. I
want to urge us all to walk in the light of this message and may God who sent
His Son Jesus Christ to come and pay the penalty of our sins so that we can
receive eternal salvation free of charge. May He grant to us the grace to
forgive one another and to extend love and national reconciliation through
Jesus Christ Lord and Saviour.
We
pray for his Excellency the President of the Republic and all His Ministers
That God will continually protect them and grant to them the wisdom and
knowledge to lead this nation to prosperity. We pray for the newly elected
members of the national Assembly for God’s continual protection, and guardians
as they make laws for the overall benefit of the nation.
