A filthy, stinking bag of worms!

The following is by Martin Luther

"I desire above all things that my name should be
concealed, and that none be called by the name of
Lutheran; but of Christian. What is Luther? My
doctrine is not mine, but Christ's. I was not crucified
for any. How comes it to pass, that I, who am but
a filthy, stinking bag of worms; that any of the
sons of God should be denominated from my name?
Away with these schismatical names! Let us be
denominated from Christ, from whom alone we
have our doctrine."

This is so true. By putting the name of the person who started the demonination as the name you are taking away the focus from God. When people look at a demonination they should think firstly of Christ. When names are put in fron then that person who started it comes to mind first not Christ.

What's amazing though is that Luther's life failed miserably when it came to matching up with these words.

What's amazing though is that Luther's life failed miserably when it came to matching up with these words.

I think a good many of the people we quote here on SI may fall into this same thought. When we are ressurected, we will no doubt be surprised about who we find is the greatest in His kingdom.

Fear God and not man...

In Christ
Jeff

Imagine: What if Luther's followers had followed his request? Would Luther have become the "dartboard" (or saint) that he did?

It seems like a horrendous injustice to revere a person (above what is appropriate) and at the same time deny such a humble request. At least those Lutherans could have included "Filthy Stinking Bag of Worms" on their church signs. I'm sure Luther wouldn't have minded that.

I suspect that Wesley, Knox, and countless others would have also preferred that their names were not used on church signs.

Diane

"Would to God that all party names, and unscriptural phrases and forms which have divided the Christian world, were forgotten... I should rejoice... if the very name (Methodist) might never be mentioned more, but be buried in eternal oblivion." (from The Works of John Wesley)

"I say of the Baptist name, let it perish, but let Christ's name last forever. I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not be a Baptist living." (Charles Spurgeon, "The Eternal Name," Sermon, May 27, 1855)

...So, as we pursue "revival" these days, let us be awake to and aware of the implications of the "revival" God has in mind, and the shakings it is going to cause. For I believe it is far more than "revival" that is before us. God is going to answer the prayers of these godly men of the past, and many others both past and present (and of His own Son). He is not going to "revive" the Methodist church, or the Baptist church, or the Lutheran church, of the Pentecostal church, or any denomination, for that matter (although in his grace and mercy He has done so at times in the past).

But what He has in mind to do now is going to SHAKE the whole denominatinal system and bring to birth "One Body" in the earth, with One Head. "And there shall be one fold, and One Shepherd" (Jn. 10.16).

The Son of God is even now interceding for this at the Right Hand of God. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall belive on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou has loved me" (Jn. 17. 20-23).

AD

Reminds me of a quote of George Whitfield. He said as he lay dying, "Let me die, and let my name die with me." His desire was Christ's glory, not his own.

"Lord, make me small and little known, prized for Thee, and Thee alone."

...So all these men, Luther, Whitfield, Wesley, Spurgeon, and many others I am sure, are this day grieved to the quick to see how men have "camped" around their names. (If they are able to look down and behold what's going on in the earth; I don't know.)

Maybe most of us will never have a reputation, but if we do, let us seek God earnestly for the grace to "fade into the cloud" as Moses and Elijah did on the Mount of Transfiguration, that JESUS ONLY be seen.

AD
...You are right, Jeannette, I, at least, have no clue how to pronounce that name (nor anything else written in Gaelic, for that matter). :)