Word of God

Text relating to the sermon at The River this Sunday (at 10:00 AM): 

1 Peter 1:13-25 (NLT)

So, how long does your New Year's resolve tend to last? A few hours? Days? Weeks? Maybe you've kept your resolution(s) for the whole year...? If so, congrats! Can't say I've ever kept one too well myself, except one. I read the Bible from cover to cover one year... LOTS of work, but well worth the cost.

This month at The River, we'll be discussing four areas of discipleship I believe we should consider practicing in order to experience deep, authentic, and lasting transformation: (1) The Word of God, (2) Prayer, (3) Christian assembly, and (4) Works of service. Yes, there a thousand things we need to change about ourselves... but in terms of following Chirst, these issues are certainly worthy of heartfelt resolution.

This Sunday, we'll talk about the importance of immersing ourselves in the Word of God. (And no, it's not too late to join me in reading it all the way through.)

Peter says this:

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,

   

   “People are like grass;

   their beauty is like a flower in the field.

   The grass withers and the flower fades.

   But the word of the Lord remains forever.” - 1 Peter 1:23-25

Now I'm going to go out on a limb here... and suggest that the Word of God... a.k.a., the Scriptures, a.k.a., the Bible (as we know it) was really, really important to the Apostles and members of the early church. Peter goes so far as to say that life itself comes from the word of God. Remember in Genesis 1, where God said, "Let there be light", and there was light? The words of God brought life where there was otherwise no life. In the same way, the Word of God continues to bring life where there is otherwise no life.

Ex nihiolo is a Hebrew phrase meaning "something from nothing." In other words, out of nothing, God spoke this world into existence. Wow... just take a moment and ponder that idea!

The Bible is no ordinary book... or (more accurately) library of books. No sir, the Bible contains the breath of God. It is Spirit-filled. It is pure revelation... in that it has the capacity to illuminate the Truth of God to human hearts full of chaos and darkness. As it has been often said, the Bible is God's love letter to humanity. The words of the Father and the Son are powerfully, yet mysteriously breathed into our deadness, and offers us resurrected life in the power of the Holy Spirit. But it only brings life to a broken and humble heart... someone who hungers for God... light, truth, hope, peace, love.

Unfortunately, the Bible is also a weapon of death in the hands of a prideful person. Some of the worst atrocities in human history have been committed in the name of God's Word. The epic story of God... the divine mystery of His desire to bring salvation to a world gone amuck. The beautiful - yet utterly mysterious stories of life, death, prosperity, poverty, joy, despair, peace, war, love, hate, obedience, rebellion, humility, pride... good and evil - all somehow encompass the power to draw us into the arms of God (by faith), or the power to bring about pure evil in the human heart. Hitler, for example, was a confessed Christian who once wrote, "I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." 

Somehow, I think I'm safe in saying that the self-proclaimed "Fuhrer" may have read and studied his Bible... but he definitely was not acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator... nor fighting on God's side. Satan was able to twist the truth - even God's Truth - into a sick and murderous revelation of pure evil. How could that even be possible?

I don't know. But I do know the canon of Scripture we've inherited over many centuries... the book we affectionately know as the Holy Bible... the Old and New Testaments... continues to bring out the best and the worst in people. That in and of itself ought to be sufficient evidence that it contains power beyond any ordinary book! Some people love it... some hate it... and quite frankly, nobody fully understands it. We read it, study it, discuss it, wrestle with it, and argue about it. And yet it remains a utter mystery, right? It transforms our heart when we dare to engage with it. It provides wisdom for right living when we accept it. It gives us encouragement and confident hope when we take the time to listen to it. And it challenges our wicked flesh when we humbly allow the message to penetrate our soul.

Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. - Ephesians 6:17b

So tell me, o Christian: Is your sword blood-stained from battling the enemy of God note: that is JUST a metaphor)... or is it covered in a thick layer of dust?

You know... it's always a good time to get started. But this is the bestest, most ideal time to decide that you want to experience the Word for yourself, rather than depend on pastors, teachers, priests, and scholars to experience it for you (and tell you what you're supposed to think and believe). January is an ideal time to become resolute - utterly and stubbornly determined - to dust off your sword and let the Word of God breathe new life into your Christian faith.

Any takers?