Gospel Jump-Start

Beware of gospel fatigue! This is the warning from Martin Luther in our Gospel Jump-Start post this week. Listen to the counsel of Dr. Luther:

In times past we would have run to the ends of the world if we had known of a place where we could have heard God speak. But now that we hear this every day in sermons, indeed, now that all the books are full of it, we do not see this happening. You hear at home in your house, father and mother and children sing and speak of it, the preacher speaks of it in the parish church—you ought to lift up your hands and rejoice that we have been given the honor of hearing God speaking to us through his Word. (Reformation Sketches, pgs. 47-8)

If there was a danger in Luther’s day of taking the accessibility of God’s Word for granted the same danger is certainly present today. Remember, in Luther’s day the Bible was just beginning to be translated into common languages and distributed to everyday people. In Luther’s lifetime the gospel was recovered, preached frequently, and catechizing was starting to happen; yet he was still concerned about a familiarity that breeds contempt creeping in. We need to hear this warning today as a people who have multiple bibles in our homes, numerous biblical books published monthly, an endless supply of podcasts, and enumerable blog posts. We are certainly a people who are vulnerable to gospel fatigue.

Let us not forget, “we have been given the honor of hearing God speaking to us through his Word.” 

Written by Matt Baker