The Word

The Word Romans 12:1-2 December 28, 2008 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction I was reflecting on the growing tendency among the “politically correct” group to insist that others honor their personal preference to not hear anything religiously narrow. Some of the more vocal are pressuring retailers and keepers of public places to not allow the expression, “Merry Christmas,” but rather to water it down far enough to eliminate any reference to Christ. “Happy Holidays” is supposed to be the preferred greeting. I know some of you have rather strong opinions about that, as I do, and I could probably wring out a few amen’s by going on a tirade about keeping Christ in Christmas. I’d like to avoid that luxury, as tempting as it may be. What has caught my attention is the way I and other believers overreact a little to this modern phenomenon. Among Christians now it’s almost heresy to wish one another “happy holidays.” It’s a perfectly nice greeting in and of itself, but because of the stink being raised about it replacing “Merry Christmas,” and the offense we take to that, it’s almost as if a person of faith says “Happy Holidays!” they’re sinning, or letting us down, or somehow defecting to the “other side.” A week or so ago, one of the Christmas cards we received in the mail had “Happy Holidays” emblazoned across the front, with the picture of a tree and a star and a nicely wrapped gift. I confess that I instantly took offense, knowing the sender was a Christian. Then it hit me—what’s inherently wrong with that greeting? Jesus is still Lord, and He’s still the real reason for the season. That truth is not threatened by more secular expressions. I don’t suppose it’s worse than engaging in all the other secular, commercial trappings: lights, shopping, Santa & reindeer, all the while insisting that others and we say, “Merry Christmas!” In the first century, when John wrote this gospel, he used a loaded term. He referred to Jesus as the Word. If ever there were a loaded term this one was. What did it mean to the first century readers? And what does it mean, or should it mean, to us in the 21st century? We ought to take a few moments to talk about the subject and why the aged apostle of love, the patriarch of Asia Minor, chose to begin his gospel not with a narrative of Jesus’ birth or Jewish lineage, but rather with a philosophical, spirit-inspired reflection. Instead of Jesus the babe in a manger or Jesus the Messiah of the prophets, John is led by the Spirit to speak of Jesus, the eternal Word of God. LOGOS – A Hebrew Concept for the Jews When John used this Greek word “logos” he knew it had a rich meaning for the Jews. In Hebrew thought “the Word” evoked the idea of the power of God’s Word. The power to create, for example. The Hebrew scriptures often affirmed that “by the word of the Lord the heavens were made”. In Genesis 1 and 2 God speaks and things come into being from nothing. Did John have this in mind when he wrote “logos”? Look again at the opening words of John 1 – In the beginning… In fact, John is emphatic that Jesus was there at the beginning of creation. Not only was He there, but He was the very agent of creation (through him all things were made and nothing that has been made was ever made without him - vs. 3; the world was made through him - vs. 10). When things came into being it was through the Word of God, and what (or who) was the Word? Indisputably, John says, Jesus is the Word. But the Hebrews also knew the Word was God’s power and dynamism. Is not my word like fire...and like a hammer that breaks a rock into pieces? (Jer. 23:29) Psalm 147 praises God for His great power, and in verse 15 it reads: He sends forth his word to the earth; and his word runs swiftly. The Word is also identified with the powerful wisdom of God. Wisdom was at creation, the craftsman at His side and was with Him from the beginning before the world began. (Proverbs 8:22-30) This was Jesus, the second person of the trinity. Even His Word spoken and written by the prophets is powerful and dynamic. living and active. Sharper than a double-edged sword…[webmasters note: Hebrews 4:12] He speaks of Himself in Proverbs 8: I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep…I was the craftsman at his side. (8:30) Then He says, Blessed is the man who listens to me…For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. (8:34-35). It was Jesus, the Word, who fulfilled this picture of the powerful Word and the dynamic Wisdom of God. The New Testament confirms - Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24) The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3) We simply have to hear the rest of that great passage in Hebrews. In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word… [webmasters note: Hebrews 1] At the very mention of the word LOGOS you can almost feel the timpani drums of the cosmos rumble and roll, you can almost see the lighting of God and hear the awesome thunder, you can nearly see the God of the universe riding on the storm, you can sense His mighty power and indomitable justice. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So when the Jews encountered this prologue of the gospel of John, they identified immediately with the concept of the LOGOS as the dynamic power of God through His Word spoken. But what about the Greeks? LOGOS – A Greek concept for the Gentiles Well, the Greeks coined the word LOGOS. For about 500 years the term was used increasingly to refer to ideas of wisdom and reason and the very idea of ideas! Socrates in the late 5th century BC had a student named Plato who famously laid out an all-encompassing cosmology including his ideas of heaven and earth, creation and God, good and evil. In a nutshell, he taught that God is the perfect good and that the world, being matter, was evil, so it could never have been created by God, who could not interface with evil. So a series of lesser “emanations” went out from God, having incrementally less and less of His glory and divine characteristics. Finally one of these emanations was impotent enough of pure good/godliness that it could actually make a world such as ours. This emanation or “demiurge” was called… the LOGOS (also often identified with the Creator God of the Old Testament). This is all philosophic conjecture and basically rubbish as far as real Truth is concerned, but I bring it up to point out a very important concept. John had a hearing among the Greeks, in part, because he spoke their language—the language of ideas, from Socratic wisdom to Platonic dualism to Aristotelian logic. These were the Greek world’s Wikipedia, pop-philosophy, if you will. Leading thinkers and society’s architects were listening to the gospel as they did momentarily at Mars Hill, precisely because God had providentially “timed” the arrival of the gospel of Christ the LOGOS. Remember that little verse at Galatians 4:4 – But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son… When the Holy Spirit led John to identify the Son of God as the Logos of God, there were incredible connections being made. The gospel was finding fertile ground among the intelligentsia of that day. And philosophic notions and catchwords were hooking them up with Truth. Of course, in God’s economy, LOGOS was much more than a catchword it was a divine concept older than time. He is the image of the invisible God, the one primary and important one over all the created order. For by him all things were created…all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15-17) LOGOS – A Saving Concept for All Now listen while I draw the cinch on all this talk about Jewish ideas of divine creative power and Greek notions of wisdom and reason. The LOGOS speaks to both of them! Those who want to feel and sense God working in their lives, people who are looking for visceral evidence that God is real for them; as well, those who have this need to satisfy their minds, scratch their philosophical itch and reason the gospel for themselves. Both of these groups can go too far in their pursuit of their own kind of God, getting off track into a forest of subjective self-centeredness, or lost in the desert of intellectual pride. But God wants to reach the tree-huggers and the PhD’s. He wants them both to know that His Son, the LOGOS of eternity has come to live among us for a little while; He has come to bring grace and truth; He wants them all to know that to those who believe in His name He will give the right to become children of God. Jesus, the LOGOS has come to make God known. The Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22-24) That Jesus is identified for us as God’s Word signals to us how intensely, how resolutely He wanted to communicate his heart for us. He sent Himself, His own Son, as the perfect expression of who He is, what He is like and how deeply He loves us and wants to save us, Jews and Gentiles, feelers and thinkers. LOGOS – The way to faith and maturity I have one more application I feel I must make as we consider the Word of God. It’s not very sermonically sound or homiletically hip to jump to a new track like this, but I’ve always vowed to try to make the Word of God easier to obey by teaching practical direction based on its truth. And that’s more important to me than whether my points line up or my outline is sound. There is something we need to be reminded of, you and I. We will never come to faith or increase our faith, and we will never grow up to maturity in Christ or faithfully carry out our mission without deliberate, dedicated, daily feeding on God’s Word, the Bible. You already know that faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ, so I don’t even need to mention Romans 10:17 to you. You need to read and study God’s Word regularly and often. And of course you’ve memorized 2 Timothy 3:16-17, so I don’t need to rehearse in your hearing that All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And it goes without saying, doesn’t it, that you are to do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. We’re already aware of that small band of believers in Berea who studied the scriptures deeply and intently every day to see if what was being taught them was true, and how the book of Acts records that they were “of more noble character” because of it. (Acts 17:11) You remember that Jesus spoke to the Father in prayer and slipped in this most important part because His disciples were there listening as He prayed—He said, Thy Word is truth. [webmasters note: John 17:17] And I am certain that we remember the many affirmations in the Psalms about the scriptures, like I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. [webmasters note: Psalm 119:11] Conclusion: Practical Direction in the Word There is a verse tucked away in Colossian 3 that is actually very important. It’s verse 16 and it reads like this: Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom… That is a clear and very practical recommendation from the apostle Paul, inspired by God’s Spirit. Oh, wait a minute, it actually appears to be more than a clear, practical recommendation. It looks to be more of an exhortation. Uh-oh! I just checked the tense and mood in the original language, and it’s an imperative—that means it’s a command! I’d like to close with two very direct, heartfelt encouragements that are most timely. First, read your Bible through this year. Some of you have been believers for decades and have yet to read the entire Bible. Some of you have let more dust collect on your Bible than fingerprints. Get back to the Word of God. You know how much wiser you are when you read it. You know how fast you grow when you study it. It is the only thing in your house that is eternal, and you need to invest much more time in it. Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. [webmasters note: Luke 21:33] You have a handy tool to help you read through your Bible in 2009. I can’t think of a better time than right now to make a resolution to read through God’s Word in a year. Hey, you can make the time. After all, you’re broke, with the economic downturn and all—you can’t afford to do anything else—read God’s Word, for heaven’s sake, and let the Word of Christ dwell in you more richly. Secondly, we are offering an exciting slate of Life Group opportunities, and every one of them will be drenched in lively study of God’s Word, with good teachers and helpful discussion. I did notice something about that Colossians 3:16 passage. Did you see it? There’s a communal element to it. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly AS YOU teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. You’re not going to get the “all wisdom” part unless you’re in the Word, and you’re not going to get the “one another” part unless you’re meaningfully engaged with a small group of believers who are honestly loving Christ and each other with dedicated intentionality. Between the two—reading through the Bible in a year and attending a Life Group regularly—it’s going to cost you a grand total of four hours a week. You can do that. Why? Because it is important, and you want to honor God with your life and your time, and you want to genuinely grow in your faith and maturity. Don’t tell me you don’t have the time. Because I’ll tell you there are some far less important things you need to cut out of your schedule in deference to letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.     [Back to Top]