Pentecost Season Devotion, June 25

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22

We live in a time when everyone is smarter than God! We expect this of atheists and agnostics. It is a sad day when those who are in authority in the church lead the charge in attacking the truth of God’s word.

Yesterday a name from my past emerged that reminded me of the trying times at Concordia Seminary in the early 70’s.  This was a time when many teachers and leaders in our synod were challenging the veracity of Holy Scripture. I won’t rehearse here everything that happened but ultimately The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod chose to remain faithful to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.

The attack on God’s word by those who believe that their intellect is above scripture continues today but it is nothing new. More than a century ago the Church of England was already engaged in this debate. A priest by the name of Samuel John Stone became upset by these attacks from Bible critics and was moved to write a most touching hymn, The Church’s One Foundation!

As he saw unorthodox teaching emerging in the church he wrote:

Though with a scornful wonder
    The world sees her oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
    By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping;
    Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
    Shall be the morn of song.

May nothing but Christ ever be our foundation, not intellect, not emotion, only the Christ of Scripture!

Take a moment and meditate on this moving hymn:

The Church's One Foundation

The Church’s one foundation
    Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is His new creation
    By water and the Word.
From heav’n He came and sought her
    To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
    And for her life He died.

Elect from ev’ry nation,
    Yet one o’er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation:
    One Lord, one faith, one birth.
One holy name she blesses,
    Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses
    With ev’ry grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
    The world sees her oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
    By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping;
    Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
    Shall be the morn of song.

Through toil and tribulation
    And tumult of her war
She waits the consummation
    Of peace forevermore
Till with the vision glorious
    Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
    Shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth has union
    With God, the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
    With those whose rest is won.
O blessèd heav’nly chorus!
    Lord, save us by Your grace
That we, like saints before us,
    May see You face to face.

Public domain – Lutheran Service Book 644

The southern facade of Notre-Dame de Paris

God’s richest blessings in Christ,

Pastor Philip Quardokus