A Treasured Legacy
By J. Greendyk
Today more than ever, we need to pause by the five watchwords of the Reformation: Scripture alone, faith alone, Christ alone, grace alone and glory to God alone. We live in a time when these fundamental truths are widely forsaken. As it was before the Reformation, today's Christendom again sets forth man and the glorification of man. Indeed, as Solomon wisely expressed, there is nothing new under the sun.I Kings 21:3 But as we commemorate what Martin Luther started back in October 31, 1517, we are reminded of our treasured legacy from our church fathers and our duty to hold fast the form of sound doctrine and the experiential life of a Christian.
In Jeremiah 6:16, God commands: "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." And I Kings 21:3 illustrates for us just such a mana man named Naboth.
The historical background of Chapter 21 of I Kings finds King Ahab recently returning from a major victory over the Syrians. But instead of being thankful, the lust of the eye, the desire of the flesh and the pride of life got the upper hand in his life. He coveted the vineyard belonging to his neighbor Naboth. We read in the first two verses:
And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.That was not a bad or wrong proposal. Ahab dealt fairly in offering to buy the vineyard or to give Naboth one of equal quality. By accepting that offer, Naboth could have increased his wealth and found favor with Ahab, the king of Israel. But he turned it down. He said to Ahab in verse 3: "The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee."Everlasting possession
Why did Naboth refuse such a tempting offer? Answer: Because having inherited that land from his fathers, he had no right to sell it. When Israel entered the land of Canaan, the Lord gave each tribe a portion of land, and that land was to be kept by each family and passed on from generation to generation. We read in Leviticus 25:23-25:The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.Naboth's refusal to sell or exchange the land reveals how he treasured the inheritance of his fathers. It also reveals his conviction to obeying Israel's covenant God, even at the risk of offending the king. Thus, Naboth's decision flowed not from an obstinate and miserly heart, but from obedience to his holy and faithful covenant-keeping Lord. He said, "The Lord forbid it me."True obedience. Naboth's obedience shows that he knew the truth of Scripture and remembered this promise of God, "for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (I Sam. 2:30).
And so, he held firmly to Scripture for guidance, to Christ to uphold him in this trial, to God's grace to hold fast in times of temptation, and to God's faith to cleave to Israel's covenant God. In all this he glorified God.
Is it the same with you? Do you seek grace to hold fast to sound doctrine? Do you treasure the legacy of our Reformation fathers regarding the Word of God? Have you learned the value of grace and faith alone through Christ alone? Do you covet the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart as essential to true experiential religion?
Naboth did. So highly valued was the inheritance of Naboth that he would rather die than sacrifice the honor of God and disobey God.
Everlasting truths
And so did Reformation and Post-Reformation fathers.When Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms, he left this word with Melanchthon. "Dear brother, if I do not return, and the enemies put me to death, continue to teach and stand fast in the truth."
Do you see how Luther refused to sell the inheritance of the truth he had come to treasure? Even under intense pressure at the Diet of Worms, Luther refused to cave in to the demands of the emperor and the Roman Catholic leaders. After a night of prayer and meditation with God, Luther defended for two hours the doctrines of Scripture, coupling it with the truths of Christ, grace, faith and glory to God alone in the salvation of a sinner.
He then said, "Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture that I have erred, I cannot, I will not and I may not retract what I have written, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against the Word of God and his conscience."
Looking at his enemies, He then concluded, "Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God, Amen!"
Doctrinal blessings
As joint-heirs with Christ, we believers shall inherit the new earth after the current universe is destroyed on the Last Day. And we shall inherit eternal life and everlasting glory. But as Luther fell into the hands of God and by his standing firmly upon the Word of God, you and I have received a rich legacy also from the Reformation of 1517.Scripture alone. What have we received? First, the light of God's Word began to shine again. Scripture alone was set forth as a rule and guide rather than Roman Catholic tradition and the words of the pope. Is Scripture's authority and infallibility the basis of decision-making in your life and mine? Or do the opinions of men hold more weight with you?
Grace alone. The second blessing was the wonderful soul-saving doctrine of salvation by grace alone. Salvation by any kind of works has been found to be heretical. We read in Romans 3:20, "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Have you learned experientially the truth of death by the law? Have you come to own yourself as transgressor of the law from the time of your conception? Have you acknowledged your original and actual sins before God? Has salvation been experienced as being wrought in you solely by God's grace and not anything you have done?
Faith and Christ alone. Two other blessings received from the Reformation are that of justification by faith alone and in Christ alone. Rome taught justification by works. Man's totally depraved nature likes such a doctrine, but the Reformation cites what God says in Romans 5:1,2:
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.Is the ground of your salvation Christ's sacrifice and righteousness? Has faith taken hold of this soul-liberating truth so that you know experientially what this passage declares?God's glory alone. The fifth blessing received is the Biblical doctrine of glory to God alone. The fruit of one-sided sovereign grace wrought in the heart of sinners is glory to God alone. Why did Naboth refuse to sell or exchange the inheritance of his fathers?
Because he wanted to obey God. But why did he want to be obedient? Because God had sovereignly wrought His grace in his heart.Déjà vu
Today many enemies have again invaded the church. This time, man seeks an easier way of salvation. Man does not want to be saved as a lost sinner in and by Christ alone, possessing no virtue in self. He does not want to acknowledge self as a hell-worthy sinner before God. By doing so, man dishonors God and turns the five watchwords of the Reformation upside down. As a result, the legacy of our godly forefathers is lost as well as the sound doctrine of salvation by grace and faith alone in Christ.Dear friend, may the conviction found in Naboth's heart ever reside in our hearts also. Let us heed the command I quoted at the beginning of this message: "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls" (Jer. 6:16). May it never be found to be true that which follows the command in that very verse, "But they said, We will not hearken."
Be alert. Do you know what type of teaching we need today? That which the Bible and the Reformation fathers taught. Listen to what Calvin said, "God grants faith which is a supernatural act whereby a sinner flees with all his poverty to Christ's riches and with all the nakedness of his soul to Jesus' robe of righteousness." We need to experience that act of grace whereby a sinner commits himself entirely into the hands of Jesus and finds to the joy and delight of his soul "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).
May it ever live in our hearts and be preached from our pulpits that the Lord forbids us to give the legacy of our fathers to another. May we covet earnestly Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone and Christ alone and may we ever strive to live our life to the glory to God alone. o
Rev. J. Greendyk is pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.