Foundation upon which everything was built

In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, 2 for behold, the wicked abend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; 3 if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”(Ps 11.1-3)
To the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
 
I was recently watching a kid’s movie with my daughters where they were using a defense force as metaphor for the Church. This group had once been strong and a force for God, and a strong defense against the evils of the world that threaten it. They were guided during those early days by a training manual that described how they should work in the world, but also who they were. As time went by, new teachings and new ideas worked their way into their midst and that old training manual began to be viewed as outdated in light of all the new “knowledge” that the world now possessed. Those who still followed that book were viewed as “old school” and out of touch. Now they focused upon science and tactics and all kinds of things that are not bad in their own right, but only looking at those things, they had lost their meaning. They had lost their purpose.  
At one point, they open up that old training manual, and the viewer can see that it is the Bible. One of them begins to lament that fact that defense force (the Church) is weaker now today than ever before because even though they have all this new knowledge, they have forgotten who they really are and what their true purpose was to be. She says that they were stronger back when they just focused on the Book.
This is October, which means that we will be celebrating Reformation Sunday in a few weeks. The early Church was founded upon the Word. It was the foundation upon which everything was built. If the foundation is not strong, the house cannot stand. Additionally, as Psalm 11 says, “…if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
As time went on, Scripture began to be usurped by tradition. The grandest thing celebrated on Reformation Sunday is a return to the Word (Sola Scriptura) as sure foundation upon which the Church rested.  
As time has passed since then, the world has gained a great deal of knowledge, some good and some not good. There is nothing wrong with knowledge in and of itself, but there is also a great deal of garbage that is promoted as knowledge. I tend to think of knowledge as the windows of a building. It is what we look through to view the world around us. However, it is the foundation upon which the house is built. It is the foundation which secures the place in which we stand and our place in the world. If we find that there is something wrong with the windows, if our knowledge is found to be cracked or broken, the windows can be replaced. However, if the foundation is not strong, the whole thing will crumble.
I cannot encourage you enough, I beg you to read your Bibles. Study scripture. Allow it to affect you heart. Allow it to change your lives. You will have questions. That’s okay. That is why we have Bible study for all ages. If you don’t want to come to a class, come talk to me directly. If you don’t want to talk to me directly, email me and I will point you toward resources to help you understand that with which you may be struggling. Regardless, allow Scripture to change you.  “…faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Rom 10.17). Build your foundation upon the sure Word of God. Like Luther, upon that foundation may we always proclaim, “Here we stand! We can do no other!”