Food for Thought

Steadfast in Thy Word

Rev. Dr. Wesley Smith, II

August 19, 2019

Any guesses as to what Luther’s most famous hymn in the years following his death? It wasn’t A Mighty Fortress, not by a long shot. Today, A Mighty Fortress is our calling card; those first three D-major chords are as instantly recognizable and attention-getting for us as any piece of music ever written (including the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth). But as much as we love that hymn today, there’s another hymn which was much more famous. His most famous hymn was Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word, written in 1542. This hymn expresses the greatest commitment of Luther’s life, a commitment that enabled him to stand against false teaching, a commitment that comforted him in times of affliction, a commitment that kept him secure in God’s love and grace.

Nothing illustrates Luther’s commitment to God’s Word than his stand at the Diet of Worms in April, 1521. It had been nearly four years since Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses and his proclamation that we are saved by grace totally apart from any human work or effort. This teaching seriously undermined official church teaching of the time and resulted in a succession of arguments and disputes with church leaders that led to his excommunication. At the Diet of Worms Luther was presented with the option of recanting his teaching or facing death.

Neither pope nor council, he declared, would make him recant unless it were proved to him from Holy Scripture that his views of grace and justification by faith were wrong. After repeating that phrase numerous times during the Diet, in a moment of inspiration, Luther leapt to his feet and declared, Here I stand, I can do no other.

Luther’s stand on the Word of God was his way of framing the ultimate Desert Island Question. At some time or other we’ve all played this game: if I were stranded on an island, which five books, which five pieces of music, which five pictures, which five recipes, etc., would I take?

Let’s up the ante, though, on this Desert Island Question. If you could take only one thing in life - just one - for comfort, for hope, for reassurance, for strength, what would it be? The latest I-Phone? A black American Express card? A form-fitting pillow? Your favorite cooking pan? Luther would have rejected all those. He even would have rejected beer, and we know how much he liked that!

No, there’s only one thing that Luther would ever have considered taking with him. That’s because there is only one thing that he regarded as foundational to all of human life, and that’s the Bible, the Word of God. Luther went to far as to stake on his life on the Word of God, and it was important enough for him to keep it at the core of everything he did throughout his life. What made his hymn, Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word, so popular, I think, is the way everyone understood that hymn as Luther’s personal testimony and prayer. Food for thought, indeed.