Forever

Rev. David Haberstock.

by David Haberstock

“It’s all falling apart. Attendance is down. My kids hardly come anymore. Our town is wasting away, and so is our church. For most people, belief seems to play second fiddle to the cares and concerns of life. I get so discouraged, I wonder if my church and faith even matter anymore. If my church goes the way of other churches in town, will anyone notice? Does Lutheranism matter? Does this thing called the Reformation still matter?”

We are attacked by these sorts of doom and gloom thoughts regularly these days. The Reformation only matters if God’s Word still matters. The Reformation was a reforming of the Church back to God’s Word. God’s Word mattered so much to the pastors and lay leaders of the Reformation that many risked death for it. It mattered so much that the phrase “The Word of the Lord Endures Forever” became the rallying cry of the early Lutherans—Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum in Latin, VDMA for short (from 1 Peter 1:24-25; Isaiah 40:8).

The Word of the Lord still matters now. When your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name, comforting your smarting conscience and pulling you out of your shame spiral, it matters. When our Lord’s body and blood are placed on your tongue, giving you peace amidst the storm and strength to continue, it matters. When the babies of your extended family are snatched from Satan’s clutches through Holy Baptism and given the new birth of water and the Word, it lifts a burden of concern and comforts you. We know about these things because of God’s Word. We believe these things because of God’s Word. These things have power—still to this day—because of Christ’s Word and command. His Word endures forever.

Not only does the Word of the Lord endure today but His servants from the time of the Reformation still have much to teach the Church! For the first two hundred years of Lutheranism, there was a kernleider—a core set of hymns sung by Lutherans that taught the faith. Somehow we’ve lost them over the centuries, but they preach messages we need to hear in our day.

Of particular comfort to me has been “O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold” (The Lutheran Hymnal 260). It is Luther’s poetic versification of Psalm 12, and is a powerful prayer for the Church of our day:

1. O Lord, look down from heaven, behold
And let Thy pity waken:
How few are we within Thy Fold,
Thy saints by men forsaken!
True faith seems quenched on every hand,
Men suffer not Thy Word to stand;
Dark times have us o’ertaken.

2. With fraud which they themselves invent
Thy truth they have confounded;
Their hearts are not with one consent
On Thy pure doctrine grounded.
While they parade with outward show,
They lead the people to and fro,
In error’s maze astounded.

3. May God root out all heresy
And of false teachers rid us
Who proudly say: “Now, where is he
That shall our speech forbid us?
By right or might we shall prevail;
What we determine cannot fail;
We own no lord and master.”

4. Therefore saith God, “I must arise,
The poor My help are needing;
To Me ascend My people’s cries,
And I have heard their pleading.
For them My saving Word shall fight
And fearlessly and sharply smite,
The poor with might defending.”

5. As silver tried by fire is pure
From all adulteration,
So through God’s Word shall men endure
Each trial and temptation.
Its light beams brighter through the cross,
And, purified from human dross,
It shines through every nation.

6. Thy truth defend, O God, and stay
This evil generation;
And from the error of their way
Keep Thine own congregation.
The wicked everywhere abound
And would Thy little flock confound;
But Thou art our Salvation.

Doesn’t it feel like we are “few within the Lord’s fold?” Yet we have the Word of the Lord proclaimed in our midst! When it is proclaimed in truth and purity, that is enough for life and salvation and for the work of the Lord to occur. We must repent of where we have not proclaimed His Word or lived it out. We must reform our ways with His Word. We must pray that the Lord keeps our little lighthouses of the Gospel shining the bright beams of Christ’s cross. The Word of the Lord that endures continue to grant you salvation in the name of Jesus, glorifying His name in every generation, and building His Church according to His good pleasure.

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Rev. David Haberstock is Regional Pastor for Lutheran Church–Canada’s Central Region.

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