Lent 2022 | Day 12: Words

One of the first lessons my father taught me as I was growing up is that words have meaning and that we should therefore make sure to know what those words mean.

This simple axiom has served me well. In many ways, it has protected me from being deceived by those who were ill-informed or had ulterior motives. And it has given me the patience I need to know that I don’t know everything.

In this time in history when almost every person on the planet has the potential access to information, it becomes more important to make sure you know what people are saying. Communication is not a static exchange. It is very dynamic and the nuance and texture of possible meanings can make it difficult to know if we are being effective in our communication.

If we are to take seriously the idea God has spoken, we must then consider that what he has said is the most important thing ever spoken.
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This is why when we read Scripture we must take the time to make sure we know and understand, to the best of our ability, what God has chosen to capture on those sacred pages. The fact we have God’s revelation written down means God has chosen to use the medium of human language to communicate his will. So the limitation in our understanding of what God has said is not because God has made it difficult but because we have rushed to reach a conclusion.

Jesus said that the words he spoke were words of life. If we are to take seriously the idea God has spoken, we must then consider that what he has said is the most important thing ever spoken. With this as an underlying assumption and one that would be safe to make, we should engage with the Scripture in a different way. Not merely as the work of human agency, but as the work of God through human agency.

Words have meaning. And it is this meaning that makes it possible for us to have confidence we can understand what God desires. As this confidence grows we become more diligent in our obedience. And as our obedience becomes more regular our passion to serve God increases. The relationship described between desire and obedience and passion is so close as to be the same thing. But they are distinct enough for us to understand how they should relate to each other.

In the season of Lent, the practice of self-reflection and surrender is a call to a deepening awareness of God’s goodness. This goodness is seen in his willingness to declare and codify his promises and prerogatives on the pages of the Scriptures. By doing this God has bound himself to his own word. He has declared that he is not a liar nor is he one to go back on his promises. When God speaks he offers us the conditions by which he will operate and conduct himself with us. This is not a limitation upon God. It is a declaration of how he has chosen to interact with us. We can therefore have confidence that if God has said it he will fulfill it.

Therefore as we continue our march to Easter morning, we do so with the confidence that is born out of God’s character. Not out of a fear that we must sustain this faith in our own strength.

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Lent 2020 | Day 27: “Heard”

You don’t have to be a religious person to have your belief system built up or destroyed. All it takes is for you to accept what someone says as being true for you.

In the midst of this global crisis, I have found myself looking and listening to voices that are focused encouraging others.

The Bible reveals a power principle related to the way that every person develops faith. Let me start by saying something about faith. We are too often tempted to define faith as only religious belief. This is not an accurate understanding of faith.

Faith is a fundamental aspect of the human experience. Every single person who lives on this earth is shaped by what they believe. And how to come to those beliefs impacts how they will behave.

You don’t have to be a religious person to have your belief system built up or destroyed. All it takes is for you to accept what someone says as being true for you.

Here is the principle: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Let’s take both sides of this in turn. First, Faith comes by hearing.

There is something about the way we are made that when we hear something we are not able to stop what we feel or think about it. The externality of the spoken word is received before we can restrict its entry. This is why what we say to one another can have such powerful effects.

Solomon said “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Proverbs 18:21 ESV). Why? Because we can’t help but hear what someone says. Once those words escape our lips they will enter into another persons ears and mind. If we are constantly cutting people down they will eventually begin to believe they are worthless. But, if we are encouraging and building each other up, then we begin to believe that too.

I am not talking about saying things that are not true. We can’t lie to others or ourselves. If we do, when we are confronted with reality we will find ourselves wrecked by the lies we believed. And the reason we will be discouraged by those lies is because we will have based our lives on something that is not real or true.

The second part of the principle is that the hearing we do must be by the Word of God.

Let me say this simply. The Word of God is the surest and truest thing anyone can ever hear. There are no substitutes. And nothing is more potent.

To hear and believe the Word of God is to ensure that what you hear will correct and not crush; encourage and not cause to despair; to give life and not death.

As a Christian and a pastor I have to remember that my words, ideas, and concepts are not what give life to a hurting and lost soul. Only God’s word can do that.

As we draw ever closer to Easter morning, I want to ask you one simple question: What have you heard from God’s word today?

Sermon | “Spiritual Injuries and the Truth”

I preached this past Sunday at Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship. We are working our way through 1 Peter as a church, looking to see what we can learn about Spiritual Injuries along the way.

Download the sermon outline here.

“Faith is…” Series, Pt. 11 | Faith is… Standing on the Word of God

“¹Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;² By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. ³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ⁴And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, KJV)

This is, according to Paul’s own understanding, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the things that I am amazed by is that there are a lot of things “missing” from what we have commonly come to believe the Gospel is. There are many things that we must understand about the Gospel, but these come after we have received this simple message and believed what it says.

There are four key aspects that Paul says must be present in order for the Gospel to be “THE” Gospel. Those four revolve around the resurrection of Jesus.

Christ Died
Christ was Buried
Christ rose again on the third day
All this is was done “according to the scriptures.”

Over the last several months I have been coming back to this simple definition of the Gospel. I think that I have found that many time the message that proclaims the redemption of the human soul is not complicated. It is profound. The heart of the Christian faith is a miracle of unprecedented proportions. The entire Christian faith depends on the resurrection being true. If there is no resurrection there is nothing. Paul tells as much when he explains that if Jesus did not rise from the grave, then we all should be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). If any point of the resurrection account is questioned the entire thing falls apart.

Let’s take a few moments to look at each of these.

1. Christ Died

There are many who do not believe that Jesus actually died. The mystery of God becoming a man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth has been a point of contention for many people. But, to think that God would allow himself to be subjected to the humiliation and horror of death is not something that many are willing to accept. What we have to realize is that if Jesus did not die, we cannot live! His death had to be real and total.

2. Christ was Buried

The death of Jesus was like every other dead. It was total and complete. There was no life left in Jesus body. If it were not true, then Jesus would not be able to provide for us what we needed. Without a substitutionary death, I would not be able to experience the fullness of Christ’s life in me. The reason I can share in Christ’s righteousness is because he fully, completely and perfectly shared in my death.

3. Christ rose again on the third day

If Jesus did not come out of that grave, there is no hope of heaven and fellowship with our heavenly Father. Jesus comforted the disciples by telling them that he was going to prepare a place for them (John 14:1-3). When was that going to take place? After his death and resurrection! That is why the disciples could not make sense of what Jesus was saying. They wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus let them know that the path that was laid out for him was not one that they could travel with him.

4. All this is was done “according to the scriptures.”

Of the four aspects of the Gospel that are necessary, this last one stands out. It stands out becuase Paul is essentially saying that God has staked his reputation and his “worthiness” as God on his ability to predict and fulfill the resurrection. Everything that happened to Jesus happened exactly how God said that it would. Everything that the Bible has to say about anything hinges on the Resurrection of Jesus having taken place! That seems like a big risk unless it actually happened.

As we have traveled on this exploration of faith, I have found that many times we do not understand the place of God’s Word in the development of faith. God’s provides his word to us to verify and to support everything that he is doing in, through and around us. Whenever we forgo using the word of God as God designed we will find that what we are trying may not work as well as we have planned.

I am thankful that God has awakened me to a this powerful truth. The Word of God, all of the the scriptures are not only sufficient for all that I need, they were designed to fulfill my every need in preparing me for living a life of faith. Paul tells Timothy to never lose sight of this amazing reality.

¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV)

With each passing day I grow more convinced that the reason the Word of God does not have the effects that it describes is not because it does not work, but because we do not allow it work in us.