Halloween? Not in this blog, but stay tuned tomorrow for a remembrance of All Saints Day.

No, long-time friend and faithful blog reader Laura McGlothlin reminded me that today is Reformation Day, the anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. Martin Luther’s objective was to prompt discussion on reforming the Catholic Church.

One of Laura’s missionary colleagues, Mark Giebink of Teach Beyond, wrote this acrostic to teach key elements of the Reformation. Thanks, Laura and Mark!

–Mark’s acrostic–

R eform – it was Luther’s desire to purify or reform the Roman Catholic Church, not to split it. 

E very believer a priest – this was one of the main teachings of the Reformation – that all had access to God through Christ alone.

F aith alone – ‘Sola Fide’ Inspired by passages like Romans 3:28, Luther claimed that salvation was only by faith- not works, sacrament, etc.

O ctober 31, 1517 – formal start of the Reformation (1517 – 1648)

R omans 1:18 – “a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. . . the just shall live by faith.”  One of the passages that deeply impacted Luther

M artin Luther – (1483-1546) – a German priest, professor, hymn writer (promoter of congregational singing), married to Katharina Von Bora (6 children)

A uthority of God’s Word- another key tenet of the Reformation

    “I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the Councils, because it is clear as day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. 

     “Unless, therefore, I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture. . . I cannot and will not retract. . . Here I stand, I can do no other. So, help me God, Amen.”

T ranslating Bible into common languages – Martin Luther translated the Bible into German to give access to all people; coincided with Gutenberg Press invention.

     Also translations were done in Dutch [1526], French [1528], Spanish [1569], Czech [1579 – 1593]

I ndulgences – one of the main things Luther taught against (addressed in the 95 Theses) – that you could somehow buy your way into heaven.

      “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” Luther was vehemently opposed to this practice.

O ther reformers – Calvin, Zwingli (Reformed), Menno Simmons (Anabaptist/later Mennonites),  Knox (Presbyterian), Wycliffe, Hus (Anglican), etc.

N inety-five Theses – debated and criticized the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, but concentrated on the selling of indulgences and other church doctrine and practice

–end of Mark’s acrostic–

Again, thanks to Mark Giebink for this acrostic and my friend Laura for passing it on.

We would do well to remember that we are all always needing to be re-formed. Personally and corporately. We should all always be looking for our next area of growth. Praise God for the past, yes, but not stuck there.

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21.5, ESV)

P.S. There is an error in yesterday’s blog about the Denver Broncos. Vance Joseph is the Defensive Coordinator.

We interrupt this blog series for an important announcement:

Broncos beat the Chiefs 24 – 9!

I know it’s only football, which is ultimately entertainment, but the Broncos have not beaten the Chiefs since 2015 when Peyton Manning was the quarterback. Chief’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes has NEVER lost to the Broncos…until yesterday.

It’s hard to pressure Mahomes because he’s so mobile, but here’s an example of what happened all game long. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

It really is a classic application of “forgetting what is behind” from Philippians 3.13. Last week, when the Broncos beat the Packers (I was there), reporters asked head coach Sean Payton about the Broncos’ halting the streak of losing 10 straight games after leading at halftime. Sean would have none of it. “That’s not this team, and we don’t think about so-called streaks like that anyway. We just try to win the game that’s in front of us.”

Of course, during the Chiefs game, there was no end to the announcers talking about the Broncos losing all those games to the Chiefs. Again, not this team. This team lost to the Chiefs 19 – 8, 17 days ago. Yesterday, the Broncos turned the tables. Sean Payton was clear in the postgame interview: “The focus was on this game.”

Coach Payton also reminded us that he is a teacher, and the team has to learn, for example, to roll with the events and not get down when there’s a missed call. It’s all about the mindset and the preparation. He said, “I thought Wednesday was our best practice this year.”

Another sidelight is the Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph. After the disastrous Miami game earlier this season where the Broncos lost 70 – 20 (not a typo!), I was among those wondering, “Why is he still here?” Yet a few weeks later, he orchestrates a game where the vaunted Chiefs are held to 9 points. In fact, counting the previous Chiefs game against the Broncos, the Chiefs scored one touchdown in 8 quarters.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, ESV)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, ESV)

We don’t want to pass by this story in Luke, the only gospel that tells it:

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10.38 – 42, ESV)

I just wrote about the importance of not being merely a listener, but there is a time for listening. Mary “…sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” Meanwhile, “Martha was distracted with much serving.” Serving Jesus! A good thing, yes? Not in this case.

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.

The lesson is clear: Jesus values a relationship with us more than our frantic serving. Obedience? Yes. Anxious, distracted serving? No.

That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1.3, ESV)

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1.9, ESV)

I could delete this blog OR I can leave it in and talk about not jumping to unwarranted conclusions even if such conclusions support a preferred narrative. Please stay with me until the end. Here’s how my original blog started:

I get a daily 70-word blog from an economist. Most of what he writes I don’t care anything about, but it’s only 70 words… Anyway, on Fridays he writes something of random interest. Here’s how the one from Friday, October 20, 2023 starts:

The Friday File: During the decade ending 2019, 20,091,410 boys were born and 19,184,303 girls were born in the U.S. [He goes on to talk about popular names.] – Elliott Eisenberg

Forget the names. Did you see the numbers?

• Boys: 20,091,410
• Girls: 19,184,303
• Total: 39,275,713

If the probability of a girl is 0.5, we should have had 19,637,856 girls, but we had only 19,184,303 girls, a shortage of over 450,000 girls. Or, looked at another way, over 900,000 more boys were born than girls. Trust me, that difference is WAY out of the bounds of statistical variation. In other words, the difference is not random, it’s caused.

PAUSE.

The previous paragraph starts “If the probability of a girl is 0.5…” It turns out that it’s not. I wrote to Dr. Eisenberg asking if he’d noticed the apparent overage of boys. He kindly responded, “The probability of a boy is 51%.” Really? I looked it up, and several disparate sources confirmed that over the centuries the odds of a boy over a girl at birth are 105 to 100, or the probability of boy is 0.512. In the data above, 51.15% of the births were boys – nearly exactly as predicted.

I hope that I don’t often come this close to publishing a falsehood or drawing a false conclusion. I don’t republish or quote anything without checking. For example, a friend posted a provocative story about a new pastor masquerading as a homeless person. It turns out that that particular story had no basis in fact. So I’m careful.

But I wasn’t careful in this case. I assumed a probability that wasn’t true. Thankfully, I scheduled the blog for a couple days ahead (as I normally do), and I have time to change it.

I talked in the introduction about my original conclusion supporting a “preferred narrative.” We know that the disastrous, now discontinued, one-child policy in China has resulted in a massive shortage of women in China. I assumed that gender-selective abortions in this country were moving us in the same direction. That might be true, but the data Dr. Eisenberg cited don’t support that conclusion.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. (Ephesians 4.25, ESV)

You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. (Leviticus 19.11, ESV)

Back to Luke, I’ve never noticed this construction:

And they were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, “Put these words into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” (Luke 9.43 – 44, LSB, emphasis mine)

“Put these words into your ears.” (LSB and NAS)

“Let these words sink into your ears.” (ESV)

“Let these sayings sink down into your ears.” (KJV, NKJV)

“Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you.” (NIV)

“Listen to me and remember what I say.” (NLT)

“Treasure and ponder each of these next words.” (MSG)

“Listen carefully and let these words sink into your hearts.” (TPT)

“Put these words at once into your ears for your own good.” (Wuest)

Despite the lead-in, the “Listen up! This is important!” the disciples didn’t understand:

They didn’t get what he was saying. It was like he was speaking a foreign language and they couldn’t make heads or tails of it. But they were embarrassed to ask him what he meant. (Luke 9.45, MSG)

There are things Jesus wants to tell us. “Put these words into your ears…” but we will have difficulty understanding especially if it’s outside our framework. A suffering Messiah, despite Isaiah 53 which predicted him, was completely outside their experience.

This phenomenon may explain why the message of relational discipleship such as I shared day before yesterday doesn’t get through. It’s just outside the paradigm.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16.21 – 23, ESV)

In Colorado, our predominant fall color is gold, from the aspens and the cottonwoods. Here are two views of the giant cottonwood not far from our house. I thought I’d better post it today since winter is coming over the weekend!

It’s been unseasonably warm, and it will be warm again, but look what’s coming!

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis 8.22, ESV)

He changes times and seasons… (Daniel 2.21, ESV)

My long-time friend Ray Bandi, now a pastor-coach, former pastor, former Navigator staff member, graduate of a leading seminary, and graduate of the Air Force Academy, class of 1972, spoke to a group of over 50 pastors and church leaders in Manchester, NH, last week. (Ray and I served together in the Air Force.)

The purpose of the meeting was to think about how they could develop “missionary disciples.” Here’s what Ray said (shared with his permission):

Good morning.  My name is Ray Bandi.  Dick asked me to speak for five minutes about personal, intentional disciple-making.

During the past 45 years, I’ve ministered in churches in four different regions of the country…. the last 29 years in New England. …  During that time, I’ve observed three consistent characteristics of the disciple-making of American churches.  

• First, our disciple-making tends to be impersonal.  Typically in the American church, when we gather as the church, what we do when we gather, rarely helps people to go deep relationally with each other.  People in the church are usually polite and friendly, but the vast majority don’t really know each other below a surface level.  And as a result, our disciple-making and our discipleship tends to be impersonal.

• Secondly, our understanding of disciple-making tends to be very vague and incomplete.  In 2018, the Barna organization did a survey asking the question, “Churchgoers: Have You Heard of the Great Commission.”  Over eighty percent of the respondents said that they either had never heard of the Great Commission or if they had, they didn’t know what the term meant.  So, as a result of our vague and incomplete understanding of the Great Commission, our understanding of disciple-making and discipleship is vague and incomplete.

• Thirdly, our disciple-making in America is typically optional.  Obviously, all church leaders want their people to be obedient followers of Jesus.  But the way we train people in our churches, regardless of what we say, the message people take away is that “disciple-making and discipleship are optional.”  So, if we don’t train people in a way that supports personal responsibility and accountability, then our disciple-making and discipleship will continue to be optional.

Now, we all know that the three things I just pointed out, were not characteristics of the way Jesus made His disciples.  Jesus was always personal and intentional in the way he trained His Disciples. 

So, what does this contrast teach us? …  One thing it teaches me is that we have created a different kind of disciple-making, and a different kind of discipleship, from the kind that Jesus did with His disciples.

So, here are two questions for us to discuss around our tables:

1. How did Jesus train His disciples, both personally, and intentionally?
2. What are some practical ways that we can make disciples just like Jesus did?

If you’re a regular reader of The Ewellogy, you’ve heard this message before although not articulated as clearly and completely as Ray has done here.

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4.19, ESV) Jesus was Intentional and Relational, and his goal was Transformation and Generations (GRIT).

Let’s revisit the story of baseball player Trea Turner. A star player, hired by the Philadelphia Phillies with great fanfare and a huge contract, wasn’t producing deep into the season. So a radio broadcaster organized a “standing ovation” for Trea on August 4. The initial reports were that “it” worked, and he was suddenly doing better. Then what?

After the standing ovation on August 4, Turner began a ten-game hitting streak. In the 48 games after the ovation, Turner batted .337 with 16 home runs and 42 RBIs. On August 19, 2023, in a 12–3 win against the Washington Nationals, Turner became the third player in Phillies history to hit two home runs in the same inning. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trea_Turner#Philadelphia_Phillies

The Phillies made it into the playoffs as a wild card, and as I write, they are one win away from going to the World Series. In the playoffs, Trea has a team-leading 0.378 batting average with 3 home runs and 5 doubles. That 5-minute standing ovation back in August was a good investment indeed!

I should point out that if the discipline and skill aren’t there, all the affirmation in the world isn’t going to help. But in our case, every believer you meet has been:

• chosen by God (Ephesians 1.4)
• indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.4 – 7)
• created in Christ Jesus for good works. (Ephesians 2.10)

Maybe we ought to be giving each other standing ovations…for future fruitfulness!

Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12.10, ESV)

I can’t complain. My son Mark has season tickets to the Broncos, and he takes me to a couple of games a year. Sunday we actually saw the Broncos defeat the Packers…barely. The weather was perfect, 72 degrees, no wind, and, as I say, the Broncos won!

But I’m worn out. I didn’t mind the 1.25-mile walk from the car to the top of the stadium. I enjoy the exercise. On the top level, we each picked up a brat and a coke. All we had to do was walk to our seats, section 509, row 28.

28 rows up from where we enter the seating area. Two steps per row. A VERY steep climb, and I’m carrying a brat and a coke. No problem…

Actually, it’s no problem for my son, who, as I think about it the next day, is the U.S. #1 stair racer. He runs stairs for fun. And when he runs a race in Bronco stadium, up and down all the way around, he wins.

Me, I’m in pretty good shape for a 76-year-old. Not quite the same. I made it, but I’m moving very slowly, head down, watching the steps and monitoring the row numbers. I can’t use the handrail (remember the brat and the coke?). I did the climb twice, once when we arrived and another after a bathroom break, and I’ve lived to tell about it.

Lesson learned? If you can help it, don’t let your elite athlete son choose the stadium seats! Actually, he suggested that next year he would try to get something only a few rows up from that high entrance. That would be more civilized.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength… They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40.28 – 31, ESV)

Jesus made himself very clear when warning folks who, like many of us sometimes, like to listen to “good sermons:”

And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (Luke 7.26, LSB)

So beware how you listen, for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him. (Luke 8.18, LSB)

And His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. And it was reported to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.” But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8.19 – 21, LSB)

Be careful how you listen…do we listen to put into practice, or do we listen for entertainment? “My mother and brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

The title of the blog is actually incorrect. It’s not “no points for listening,” it’s “negative points for listening only.”

“Even what he thinks he has shall be taken away.”

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)