Difference between revisions of "Sermon for October 31st, 2021"

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Joshua 1:1-7

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, 2 “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 5 No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.

Theodore Beza: In Calvin's Shadow

In July of 2019, I had the pleasure of visiting the city of Geneva, Switzerland--the city where the great reformed theologian John Calvin lived and worked. Near the heart of the city, there is a famous monument, often called the "Reformation Wall." (pictures).

The tall guy with the long arms (second from the left) is John Calvin. The one on the far right is John Knox, the founder of the Reformed church in Scotland, where Presbyterians come from. The guy on the far left is William Farrell (no relation to the modern comedian) and the guy just to the right of Calvin is the one we'll be talking about today. His name is Theodore Beza, and you would be forgiven if you've never heard of him before. Most people haven't, not even in Geneva, even among Presbyterian history nerds. Nine times out of ten, he's the one people are most likely forget when trying to name all four pastors on the Reformation Wall.

Who was Theodore Beza? Well, he belongs to a long and somewhat distinguished company, along with these guys: (pictures). Yes, Theodore Beza was a sidekick. Specifically, he was John Calvin's sidekick, his right hand man, his student, biographer, and eventually his successor as the leader of the church in Geneva. Beza lived most of his life in Calvin's shadow, and even today, you will rarely find Beza mentioned in any history or theology book without Calvin's name at least five words away in the same sentence.

And yet, without Beza, Calvin's immense legacy and influence, not to mention his life story and much of his correspondence, would be almost entirely lost to us. Beyond that, Beza was a gifted writer, theologian, pastor and diplomat in his own right. So today, on Reformation Sunday, I hope we can bring him out of the shadows and into the light. After all, that's the motto of the reformation and the city of Geneva--it's engraved in giant letters on the reformation wall in Latin: Post tenebras lux. After the darkness, light.

• called Aristotle the summum illum omnium Philosophorum principem, the highest prince of all philosophers.