Serious Faith

This week's Bible Focus: Paul's Epistle to the ROMANS


Text related to the sermon/discussion at The River: Romans 5:6-11 (NLT)


"Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners" (vv. 7-8).


Hmmmm... so, what would you do?


If someone broke into your home this very evening, put a gun to your head, and threatened to kill you if you didn't deny that Jesus Christ is Lord... what would you say to that person?


Recently, I read about two Catholic martyrs from the middle ages: Jan Hus (1372-1415), and Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556). You can read about both of them at Wikipedia.com.


Here is an excerpt about the death of Jan (John) Hus:

...He was enrobed in priestly vestments and again asked to recant; again he refused. With curses his ornaments were taken from him, his priestly tonsure was destroyed, and the sentence was pronounced that the Church had deprived him of all rights and delivered him to the secular powers. Then a high paper hat was put upon his head, with the inscription "Haeresiarcha" (meaning the leader of a heretical movement). Hus was led away to the stake under a strong guard of armed men. At the place of execution he knelt down, spread out his hands, and prayed aloud.

Wild, huh? This guy was burnt at the stake for has stand against the (at the time) thoroughly corrupt and wholly unbiblical doctrines of the Catholic Church. But did he recant his beliefs when the going got rough? No way, Jose. Here's how life on this earth ended for Mr. Hus:

At the last moment, the imperial marshal, Von Pappenheim, in the presence of the Count Palatine, asked him to recant and thus save his own life, but Hus declined with the words "God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today." He was then burned at the stake.

Can you identify with Jan Hus? Man, I want to... I really do. But quite honestly, I wonder if I wouldn't more likely respond like Thomas Cranmer when the heat of the fire - and the threat of death - was causing me to sweat profusely:

In his final days Cranmer's circumstances changed, which led to several recantations. On 11 December, Cranmer was taken out of Bocardo and placed in the house of the Dean of Christ Church. This new environment was very different from that of his two years in prison. He was in an academic community and treated as a guest. Approached by a Dominican friar, Juan de Villagarcia, he debated the issues of papal supremacy and purgatory. In his first four recantations, produced between the end of January and mid-February, Cranmer submitted himself to the authority of the king and queen and recognised the pope as head of the church.

Now, please keep in mind... Thomas Cranmer, like Jan Hus, was caught in a huge, ugly and violent web of corruption that defined the Catholic Church in those dark years. And like Hus, Cranmer (mostly) stood for the truth of God's sovereign grace in the face of all this persecution. However, it also seems clear that when the chips were down, he changed teams pretty decisively! 


Frankly, I hope never to know for certain what I would do if faced with that kind of challenge to my faith. But nevertheless, it is a good question for self-reflection and discussion, don't you think? Assuming we're a disciple of Jesus... do we love him as much as he loved us? Would we be willing to die for what we believe? Or... as Cole challenged us last Sunday in his sermon about the book of Acts, would we be willing to live for that same reason?


Okay... history lesson almost over. There is good news and bad news from Mr. Cranmer's story. The bad news? He did indeed die a horrible death in spite of his heavy-duty backtracking. The good news? In a prepared last speech, he sort of went off script, which really ticked off the religious authorities:

He renounced the recantations that he had written or signed with his own hand since his degradation and as such he stated his hand would be punished by being burnt first. He then said, "And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine." He was pulled from the pulpit and taken to where Latimer and Ridley had been burnt six months before. As the flames drew around him, he fulfilled his promise by placing his right hand into the heart of the fire and his dying words were, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit... I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."

Wow... now that is an awesome last minute save! What kind of faith stands up to that kind of torture so powerfully... so confidently? Whatever kind of pressure we're facing today... I'm pretty sure it's not as intense as what these men faced. Perhaps God can get us through our difficulties too, huh?


Anyway, hope to see some of you Ellensburgers this Sunday!