Perhaps the single most significant event in church history (after all of the events in the New Testament, of course) was the moment in 1517 when Martin Luther, a German monk, nailed a document to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany. It was not so much an act of defiance, but a notice of intent to discuss major theological challenges that Luther was grappling with concerning the teaching and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. That paper listed the “95 Theses” or arguments that he was making and that he wanted discussed. What Luther could not have known as he did that was that it would spark a protest and reformation in the Church that would reverberate through history.

The Protestant Reformation, as it came to be known, is just as important today as it was then. As the 500th anniversary of that momentous event comes on October 31, 2017, it seemed appropriate to commemorate it with a sermon series that looks at 7 Must-Believes for Christians. The series title comes from a declaration Martin Luther made while on trial for his beliefs: “Here I stand. I can do no other.”

The culture in which we live today preaches relativism and tolerance for all religions and no religion. It is counter-cultural to declare that certain things are true for everyone, that doctrine matters, and that God gave us a set of objective truths rooted in who he is and not what we think or have experienced. Everything else in our lives flows from what we believe. And so, the declaration from genuine Christians today must be no less decisive and firm as that of Luther and the Reformers: “Here I stand!”