October 27, 2013 at First St. John Lutheran Church – York, PA
“God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.”
As we commemorate Reformation
Day this afternoon, our service has mixed two moods with our hymns. There has
been a mood of dependence, of needing help. The first two hymns were direct
prayers to God for aid: asking the Holy Spirit to be among us, then asking for
divine help to remain steadfast in the faith. Then there has been confidence
expressed in our singing. We were exhorted to rejoice and proclaim the victory
that God has won for us. And the mood of confidence rose with those words: “A
mighty fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon.”
That confidence found its
greatest expression in the lyrics of the ancient song that we prayed: “God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the
mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains
tremble at its swelling. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
Those words of Psalm 46 drip with assurance and faith. Only those who have full
confidence in the Lord can speak
such words. And as many of you may know, the psalm’s text was the foundation for
Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”.
Think again on that first line and what it testifies
about the Lord: “God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble.” Calling something “a refuge” means that entity is
where a person can flee to. Calling something “a strength” indicates that
entity is a support. The psalm states that we are to consider the Lord an individual that we turn to in
order to receive support from Him. But is God our refuge and strength, as the
psalm declares? The heart of the Reformation movement is wrapped up in that
question: “Is God our refuge and strength?”
Oswald Bayer, a German Lutheran theologian, notes
that the Reformation was really about that important question. After noting how
people panic with changes in economic statuses or changes in culture and
society, Bayer observes: “Precisely this reminds us of the sort of question
that the Reformation tried to answer: What can we stake our life on with utter
certainty in life and in death?”[i] We could rephrase
the question: What gives us the confidence that we could say that God is our
mighty fortress and we should rejoice over His victorious actions for us?
The answer to that question is not found in
ourselves. That much is obvious, since we are calling God our refuge and
strength, not saying that we are self-sufficient. But the reason for that
confidence in God is found in what He has expressed concerning Himself, what He
has revealed to mankind through His words and deeds. Faith, hope, and trust are
placed in them.
So what did the psalm say about the Lord’s words and deeds? You prayed the
verses: “Come,
behold the works of the Lord, how
He has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and
shatters the spear; He burns the chariots with fire. ‘Be still, and know
that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the
earth!’” Those
statements reveal an active God, one who has control over nations and armies.
For the ancient Israelites, those words would resonate greatly when considering
the Lord’s victories over the
Egyptian army at the Red Sea or the Philistines at the Valley of Elah or the
Assyrians encamped around Jerusalem. Each of these events demonstrated the exercise
of the Lord’s power and strength
for His people.
But
for us, the Lord’s words and deeds
have been revealed in a greater way. We still look for His victorious acts, but
we do not look to the Lord to
fight against nations. Our concern is over enemies much greater than Pharaoh,
Goliath, or Sennacherib. What can bring us deliverance from our sinfulness?
Will we have a victor over death? Who can fight against Satan? What works has
the Lord done to deal with those
opponents?
The heart of the
Reformation message concerns the answer to those matters, the issue that Bayer
summarized in one question: “What can we stake our life on with utter certainty
in life and in death?” The answer to that is found in the Lord’s words and deeds. It is shown to
us in what God has accomplished for us through Jesus Christ: “All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a
gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a
propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” Just as the words of Psalm 46 formed the basis for
Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” those words of Romans 3 were the
source of the words of another of his hymns that we sang portions of today:
God said to His belovèd Son: “It’s time to have
compassion.
Then go, bright jewel of My crown, and bring to all
salvation.
From sin and sorrow set them free; slay bitter death for
them that they
May live with You forever.”
The Son obeyed His Father’s will, was born of virgin mother;
And God’s good pleasure to fulfill, He came to be my
brother.
His royal pow’r disguised He bore; a servant’s form, like
mine, He wore
To lead the devil captive.
Jesus identifies Himself
as the One who deals with the enemies of sin, death, and Satan: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a
slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains
forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” And we have heard how He
bestows this freedom to us. It comes not through our works of obedience but
through reception of Jesus’ works through His word: “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know
the truth, and the truth will set you free.” That word of Jesus comes to us
through the Gospel proclaimed from the pulpit; it comes to us with water in the
font; it comes to us with bread and wine on the altar; it comes to us in the
minister’s words of absolution. Each time we hear it, that word of Jesus
declares to us the truth about His work for us, His propitiating sacrifice that
redeems and justifies. That truth sets us free—free from sin, free from death,
free from Satan.
We
needed safety from our enemies, so God became someone that we can flee to. We
needed aid from above, so God became our help. He has revealed this through His
words and deeds. It is the basis for the Reformation message. That is what
gives us confidence to exalt the Lord
among the nations and in the world:
With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss
effected;
But for us fights the valiant One, whom God Himself
elected.
Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ, it is,
Of Sabaoth Lord, and there’s none other God;
He holds the field forever.
Those words confess the
truth about the Lord expressed in
the psalm: “God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble…. The Lord
of hosts is with us; the
God of Jacob is our fortress.” And that is what we stake
our life on with utter certainty in life and in death.
+
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[i] Oswald
Bayer, “What Is Evangelical? The Continuing Validity of the Reformation” in Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. XXV (2011), p.
1.
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