I asked our eighteen-year-old son, Taylor, what he thought of the movie, LUTHER, and he said, “It was kind of depressing. Thousands of people died because of what he did.”
The Holy Spirit made Paul’s letter to the Romans come alive in Martin Luther. A young man found the love of God in a perfect Savior who died to rescue the undeserving. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” In the movie, Luther’s mentor saw the life of a young priest being transformed, so he challenged him to go out and change the world. But when controversy exploded and pressure increased, even the teacher encouraged his student to recant. This was Luther’s reply: “When you told me to go change the world, did you not think there would be a cost?”
We might expect personal difficulty as we obey God, but should our obedience hurt others? In MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST, Oswald Chambers wrote, “If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal. If we obey God it will mean other people’s plans are upset, and they will gibe us with it – ‘You call this Christianity?’ We can prevent suffering; but if we are going to obey God, we must not prevent it, we must let the cost be paid.”
The only way to walk such a path is to have the mind of Christ. Jesus only cared what His Father thought, so He walked free from the fear of man. Even His enemies gave Jesus this compliment: “You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.” As you read the gospels, notice the unflinching resolve of the Son to obey the Father. Peter was one of those who would be “hurt” by Jesus’ obedience. He did not like talk of trial and crucifixion, so one day he pulled Jesus aside to rebuke Him. “‘Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!’ Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of man.’” Oh that we may choose “the things of God” above “the things of man.”
“As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.” Matthew 27:32