LEARNING FROM HISTORY - 4
This is the last of the short series looking at Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ 1960 address on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Reformation in Scotland. In this address he looked at three things – the value of history, the character of the Reformers and the things that they believed. These are very important issues for us in our day. This week has seen the BBC commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible. Throughout last Sunday (7th January) there were readings from the Authorised Version and that was an excellent thing to do. But the readings were introduced by guest presenters and on several occasions their comments were awful. For instance, Simon Sharma the historian repeated ideas about the historical reliability of Genesis that were very detrimental, and then later in the day the playwright Howard Brenton claimed that David had been in love with Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and that this was the only homosexual relationship in the Bible. In this way the beauty of the language and the historical significance of the book were honoured but the core message was ignored or undermined.
The significance of the Reformation at this point is that in 1560 the Church of Rome was totally misrepresenting the Bible and its teachings, just as modern society does. It was the courage and godliness of the Reformers and the doctrines they preached that turned the situation around. By the power of the Spirit they were enabled so to preach that the Church was revived and the nation was transformed. In a day when all sorts of methodologies are being promoted and therapeutic approaches to sinners are replacing true Gospel preaching we need to learn again from this great era in the history of the church in these islands.
As we saw last time, Dr. Lloyd-Jones highlights their doctrine by saying “What did these men believe? What did they teach? What were their characteristics?” Then he sets out seven areas of belief that the reformers emphasised – the authority of the Bible; the Lord Jesus and His perfect finished work (substitutionary atonement); justification by faith alone; assurance of salvation; the universal priesthood of believers; simplicity of worship; the purity and marks of the church (preaching, sacraments, discipline). Each of these is highly relevant to our generation. It is not possible to discuss each one in this series, although we have thought about their view of the Bible.
What we must go on to consider is two other notable aspects of their ministries - their power in prayer and their preaching. I do this because these two areas are vital for our day. There is much orthodoxy but little power. There are clear statements of doctrine but the presentation is nearer a lecture than a sermon. People are informed but are they being transformed?
In addressing the issue of their power in prayer, Dr. Lloyd-Jones says, “We must not think of these reformers only in terms of doctrine, though we must start with that. This other thing was equally notable and remarkable about them, they were men of prayer. Did not Mary Queen of Scots fear the prayers of John Knox more than she feared the English soldiers? Of course she did. Why? Because he was a powerful man of prayer. Have you read about the prayer life of John Welsh, the son-in-law of John Knox? There was a man who spent nights in prayer; his wife would wake up at night and find him on his knees almost stone-cold. What was he doing? Praying for the townspeople to whom he was ministering, asking for power, asking for authority.” So the amazing commitment of these men to prayer is highlighted in this great address. Then Dr. Lloyd-Jones asks these questions, thinking of the situation 50 years ago – “Where is the power, where is the influence, where is the authority? These reformers were only men like us but they knew these things. They were men of prayer, who lived in the presence of God and who knew they could do nothing without Him.”
Now how do we respond to such things? We will probably consider their behaviour excessive and even fanatical, although they were only following the example of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. We will make all kinds of excuses about it being a different day from our own. We will point up our frailties and the demands of 21st century life. Of course, there is validity in some of those objections. What is totally invalid is to write off their approach. They prayed like that because God quickened them. They cried out to God for His help and He sent them the Spirit of supplication (Zechariah 12:10). There is a dearth of that desperate and urgent earnest praying that lays hold of God because we know we can nothing without Him. And that is the second great difference; we are not convinced of our inability. We are rather pleased with our methods and new approaches. Many of them are very useful but they cannot save sinners or change a nation. Only God can do that, and that will not happen until we really begin to pray.
Then there was their preaching. The Reformers reintroduced preaching and they believed in it wholeheartedly. But not the lectures that are increasingly heard from pulpits today. Nor the lifeless monologues that are perfectly sound but awesomely boring. Listen to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, “What is the test of preaching? I will tell you, it is power! (1 Thessalonians 1:5)” “That was the sort of preaching you had from the Protestant reformers. It was prophetic preaching…” “It was authoritative. It was proclamation. It was declaration.” He then recounts the story of a man called Chadderton, the first principle of Emmanuel College in Cambridge. “He was preaching on one occasion, and after he had preached for two hours he stopped and apologised to the people: ‘Please forgive me, I have got beyond myself, I must not go on like this.’ And the congregation shouted out, ‘For God’s sake go on!’” Now it is not the length of the sermon that is at issue here – very few men can preach effectively beyond 40 minutes. Indeed most of us would be much more of a blessing if we confined ourselves to 30 minutes. The issue about Chadderton was the power and authority, the engagement with the truth and with the people. How rarely we hear real preaching in our day – God be merciful to us and forgive us poor, inept preachers. The men of the era we are considering were men with “the fire of God in their bones and in their bellies.”
There then is the Reformation in Scotland. An era of godly and courageous men who held to sound doctrine and preached it with power and heavenly energy because they were men of prayer. We must come back to their values and standards. We must not be prepared to settle for less than God himself working powerfully among us. Oh, I hear those who say “don’t devalue the days we live in and what God is doing.” I trust I do not do that. But I see what God has done. I read of the glorious things God promises in His Word. And is it sinful to long for those things? Is God merely the God of the Reformers and the Evangelical Awakening? I say it is time to wake up, shake ourselves out of our torpor and apathy, and cry out to God until He comes to us in reviving grace.
Roger Hitchings 14th January 2011