Juan Wycliffe: "Al final la verdad siempre conquistará."

¿Quien fue John Wycliffe?

Juan Wycliffe (1320-1384)  teólogo y uno de los primeros proponentes de una reforma en la Iglesia Católica Romana durante el siglo 14.

Wycliffe nació en Hispweel, Yorkshire, Inglaterra entre el año 1320 y 1330 y murió cerca de Leicester el 31 de Diciembre de 1384.

¿Por qué fue importante para la reforma?

Juan Wycliffe fue un reformador tempranero. Él cuestionó el papado y la iglesia en maneras que habían sido impensables anteriormente. Fue pionero en rescatar la doctrina de Sola Scriptura. 

Él propuso la redacción de Biblias en el lenguaje común, retando así cientos de años de tradición extra bíblica (escritos que son considerados por la Iglesia Católica como divinamente inspirados y complementarios a la Escritura).

Ante esto, desafortunadamente, Juan Wycliffe tuvo poco éxito. Pero, la semilla había quedado sembrada. Fue hasta que Martín Lutero clavó las noventa y cinco tesis en la puerta de Wittenberg que las semillas del legado de Wycliffe comenzaron a florecer en la Reforma.

Él inició la primera traducción de la Biblia al idioma inglés y en vista que vivió 200 años antes que Lutero es considerado como el precursor principal de la Reforma Protestante. De ahí el título que Wycliffe fue la “Estrella de la Mañana de la Reforma.”

¿Qué podemos aprender de él ahora?

Según el historiador Dr. Ray McLaughlin, el aspecto más importante del carácter de Wycliffe fue: “su pasión por la verdad y su compromiso por la Palabra de Dios como la verdad absoluta. Él vio en la Escritura a un Dios vivo en acción y desarrolló un compromiso hacia Dios por encima de criaturas como los cardenales y los papas. Wycliffe no tuvo miedo de examinar sus posturas, doctrinas y tradiciones con la Biblia. Siempre fue sumiso a la autoridad suprema de la Palabra de Dios.”

Al igual que Wycliffe, es necesario que nosotros pesemos nuestras opiniones, posturas y prácticas con la Escritura. La cultura no debe determinar nuestras creencias, la Palabra de Dios sí.

Frases célebres de Juan Wycliffe

“Creo que al final, la verdad siempre conquistará.”

“Ningún hombre debe ser acreditado que está en lo correcto meramente por ser autoridad, a menos que él muestre desde la Escritura lo que sustenta su opinión.”

-Por Luís Luna Jr.

Pecador rescatado por gracia. Hijo eternamente amado por Abba.

Si te gustó este artículo, no te quedes con el...¡Compártelo!

Advise to the young preacher: Don't vent from the pulpit, bro.

Preachers, teachers and Christian communicators are, first and foremost, persons. Before we fulfill any ministry role, we are fragile human beings and sinners in desperate need of the grace of God.

Every pastor, evangelist, teacher or what-not isn't a celebrity who has already "arrived" but, rather a child of God in the middle of his sanctification process.

This means that, just like any other human being, preachers get offended and ticked off.

Someone didn't like what we said or how we said it, and we take it personal.

Someone doesn't like the way we lead the church and we take it personal.

Someone says our teaching is not deep enough and we take it personal.

Someone says our teaching is too deep and we take it personal.

To an extent, that's normal. And with time, the Holy Spirit chisels away everything that does not look like Jesus and we realize that God didn't call us to be everything for everybody but He assigned us a specific mission to accomplish while on this earth.

But, that's a lifetime process and not an overnight act that happens all of a sudden.

However, those of us in pastoral ministry have an asset that the "regular Christians" don't have: a pulpit. And that can be very dangerous. Scary, even.

Because from the pulpit we can take the anger off of our chest toward a specific person and camouflage it as "the voice of God speaking."

From the pulpit we can boldly scream that which we are too coward to speak in person...and still sound spiritual.

See, if you're in ministry, you will get hurt. You will be offended. Count on that.

But, deal with your problems and fix them in private. If your heart is hurting because you have been offended, try to talk it over with that person.

If he or she doesn't want to talk about it, get a friend so you can vent and receive counsel.

Pray. Cry. Pour out your heart before the throne of Grace.

Nevertheless, don't hurt your congregation because your ego was hurt. Your church is not guilty of your personal issues.

People who come in through the church doors are usually weary, tired and heavy laden.

They got issues with their dysfunctional family.

Their jobs are uncertain.

They have financial shortcomings.

But they show up.

And they show up with the vague expectation of probably hearing a message from the Holy Spirit that will draw their hearts nearer to beauty and majesty of God...not the pastor using the preaching time as a cathartic opportunity.

Insecure leaders tag all sort of feedback as opposition. Healthy leaders evaluate criticism to see if there's some truth in it...and, usually there always is.

I'm not saying hold up and swallow your grudges. Work through them. Confront the person. 

Vent...but not when you're up there.

May our pulpits be streams of grace and truth to the hearts of our brethren...and not the place where we wash our dirty laundry.

-Luis Luna Jr.

Sinner saved by grace. Abba's beloved child.

3 Considerations Before Going to Church Today

When I was a kid, my parents almost had to threaten me to go to church. I didn't like it at all. There wasn't any "children's ministry" so I had to stay during the whole service. I found it to be a very boring place in which the best thing I could possibly do was sleep my way through the sermon. I was actually trained in waking up as soon as the preacher said, "And now, in conclusion..."

Nevertheless, now I have come to love the Church. And I love the Church because Jesus loves the Church and gave himself for her. Freely attending a worship service without fear of persecution is a privilege not all our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world have. We in the West must think of ourselves blessed because of this reason.

But, sometimes we can lose sight of what's truly important in the corporate gathering of the Body of Christ. This is why, I would like to submit three dispositions you must have before you attend a worship service today:

1.) Go willing to worship

"They didn't sing my favorite song..."

Our culture, in so many ways, has been molded around the principle of instant gratification. That's the reason businesses are constantly doing surveys in order to know with more detail what their customers want so they can provide a better service or product. This makes us feel good. We feel special and unique. This is a great move in the marketplace. However, it's very dangerous when you go to a worship service with a "customer" mentality.

Going to the Lord's house with a consumerist inclination can, in reality, leave you emptier than when you came in. Several people completely shut their hearts during the musical part of the worship service simply because the songs they sang were not in the "Most Played" list of their iPod.

The Worship is for the Lord.

The musical part in the service is an opportunity for us to express our adoration for who God is and our gratitude for what He has done. So, whenever you're having a hard time joining the river of praise, start bringing to mind His divine attributes and recall the times in which you have seen Him work in your life in a crystal clear way. This will surely melt your heart and will cause you to explode in extravagant worship of Jesus.

2.) Go willing to learn

"His style of preaching is not that relevant"

This is a frequent excuse to not be engaged with the message during the service. Regardless of the eloquence, or lack thereof, from the person in the pulpit, if we are truly humble enough, God can speak a word to us through him or her.

Probably, the one preaching is not your favorite speaker or his style of teaching doesn't resonate much with you. But, if the man or woman is preaching the Word of God faithfully, he deserves your attention because your heart needs His Word.

The revivalist George Whitefield would often say, "There may be better preachers of this message. But there are surely no preachers of a better message."

"Lord, speak. I'm listening."

It's very easy, during the sermon, for your body to be present but your mind be absent. You're listening to the message and all of a sudden you catch yourself thinking in the upcoming game of your favorite team, or the steak you'll order at that fancy place where you're heading right after service. But, in Christ we have the power to exercise self-control and focus our attention. When you notice your mind is wandering off, I encourage to make this brief prayer: "Lord, speak. Help me to listen."

3. Go willing to implement

Let's be doers and not hearers only

The worship service is over. We go and spend the evening with our family, share lunch together, head back to the house, watch the game and "That's all folks. We call it a day. Another Sunday less another Sunday more." And the message did not seem to have any effect in us.

I mean, yes, you hollered "amen" a couple of times when the preacher got excited and emotional. Yes, you shook his hand at the end of the service and politely told him you “enjoyed” it. But, have you decided what to do on Monday with what you heard on Sunday?

How are you going to apply it when your boss turns his "jerk mode" on at work?

Have you consider when are you going to start treating your wife differently because of what you heard?

How will you become a better parent, by God’s grace, with the principles you learned?

Can I give you a suggestion? Take notes during the sermon. Yes. It's a lost art. We should use it more often. I once heard, "the best memory is in the tip of a pencil." Take notes of what you think the Lord is talking to you. And make this very important question: How can this be real in my life starting tomorrow morning?

If you have a church where to go, where the Bible is preached faithfully, Jesus is exalted and growth in community takes place, you should consider that a stunning blessing from the Most High. Therefore, whenever you go to church, go willing to worship, learn and implement.

By Luís Luna Jr.