January 9 2021, "New Year's Resolutions: The Bible is Living and Active", Hebrews 4:12

Can anyone tell me the number one best selling book of all time?

It’s the Bible.

“The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!”

Do you remember that chorus from your childhood? I do. I don’t remember ever attending V.B.S. without hearing that song. I also think of Mrs. Connie Partin from Lyons First Methodist. She was in her 90’s when I was there. Mrs. Connie was responsible for the John Durst SS Class, at the time one of the strongest classes at the church. Connie was credited with starting the class and bringing in many of the couples when they were young adults. I asked Mrs. Connie how she did it. She said, “We didn’t have ping pong tables or pool tables. The Bible was all we needed!” The longer I am in the ministry, I believe that Mrs. Connie may be on to something.

As Methodists, we have proudly declared that we are “people of the Book,” that is, the Bible. But are we really? Do we really understand this book? Do we really love what it shows us about our God? Is it a part of our daily living? Or, is it shelved until Sunday, when we dust it off for “church time?” My grandfather, Francis Allen, always kept his Living Bible on the coffee table in the living room. I believe the reason was two fold. First, he taught the Fellowship Sunday School Class, and so it was practical for him to have it readily available. Second, and more importantly, while it was a personal study for him, yes, it also was something that he knew his grandchildren would see and perhaps that might spur them on to a deeper faith journey as they witnessed his example of faith. I pray that all children and grandchildren may be so fortunate to have a Bible warrior from which to learn.

As we talk about the Bible today, we would be remiss if we did not head into the Word ourselves.

I invite you to stand as we hear the Word of our Lord this morning from Hebrews 4:12 (NIV), “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

And may glory to be God for the reading and the hearing of His Word this morning.

This morning, let’s both open the Word off God and open our hearts to receiving what the Word of God has to speak into our lives today.

As we do, we open our hearts and lives to receiving the truths of Hebrews 4:12. Even though it is only one verse, it contains fundamental truths for us to hear as it relates to God’s Word.

To begin today, the author of Hebrews says that the Word of God is alive.

The writer of Hebrews understood that the words spoken by God were more than just ideas to ponder. In general, Hebrew people understood words to have a power in themselves. That’s still true in present day. The old phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” could not be more untrue. All words have power, both spoken and unspoken. I believe that God’s Word found in the Bible, is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. Yes, while it was written by a fallible people, God is perfect and his Word which comes to us through human hands contains instructions to us, both as Yahweh, the Almighty, All Powerful God and Immanuel, God who is close to and with us. These two positions of God’s power and mighty contrasted with the intimacy that he wants with us are found again and again throughout the Bible. Just as God is alive and you and I are alive, the Bible is life giving as we ready it and learn from our God who loves us. God’s Word was not just created for a people in a time long ago, it continues to be just as relevant to us in the present day and will continue to be for all time to come.

William Barclay has correctly written:

“The great fact about the word of God is that it is a living issue for all men of all times. Other things may pass quietly into oblivion; other thins may acquire an academic or antiquarian interest; but the word of God is something that every man must face, it offers something he must accept or reject.” (Barclay, DSB, 39).

The bible is a living book because in its pages, people encounter the living God.

A little girl’s mother was startled to find her five-year-old going through a new Bible storybook and circling the word God wherever it appeared on the page. Stifling her first reaction to reprimand the child for defacing the book, she quietly asked, “Why are you doing that?” The little girl’s matter-of-fact answer was, “So that I will know where to find God when I want Him.” (Illust for Bib. Preach., 34).

God is all around us, speaking to us, reaching out to us—but it is primarily in the Word of God that we find his clearest message, in which we find him.

C. S. Lewis, one of the 20th century’s great Christian thinkers, was an agnostic, who wanted to disprove Christianity. He did so by going to the Bible and trying to prove it faulty. Instead of finding the errors that would discredit the Christian faith, he found the living God, and became an able defender of the faith.

The Word of God is alive!

The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that the Word was sharper than a double-edged sword.

The writer was gave us many different images to describe the process of dividing...

a. “dividing soul and spirit”

b. “joints and marrow”

c. “it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”

The writer was declaring that God’s Word penetrates to the deepest part of our lives as nothing is hidden from the Word of God. The good news is that in a world that is so divided, the Word of God does not further divide, it gives us a framework through which to be united.

Paul said in Philippians 2:2, “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

David said hundreds of years before Paul in Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”

We cannot be truly united in anything unless our unity starts in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A well known speaker and pastor wrote in his book that couples who pray together stay together. The one predictor of marital continuity is when couples pray together nightly sharing intimate prayer requests and praying for one another. The risk of divorce decreases to 1%. Why is that? It provides consistent opportunities for spiritual intimacy between spouses and with God. This translates positively into every other area of intimacy between spouses. Not only are they inviting God into their lives routinely, but He also becomes a regular partner there.

God not only knows us better than we knows ourselves, but God knows how to heal the hurts we feel and make our relationships with others stronger. He does this by removing that which is not of Him and giving us even more of himself. We get more of God through His word.

There will always be the struggle of the Bible being potentially intimidating and hard to read...

Mark Twain understood both the struggle in Bible study and the power of the Word of God. He once wrote:

“Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand.” (Ency. Of Rel. Quot., 34).

I believe this is why so few actually read the Scriptures, why we are suffering from biblical illiteracy today—if we read, really read, then there may be some of it that we will not understand, but we will encounter God, and He will change us as we grow closer to Him. The Scripture speaks to our hearts, and the Spirit of God uses it to let us know that we must turn our hearts to God.

Izaak Walton once wrote:

Every hour

I read you kills a sin,

Or lets a virtue in

To fight against it (ERQ, 34).

In Russia, 75% of new converts to Christianity do so simply by reading the Bible. That’s why providing copies of the Word of God in their native languages is so critical. Opponents of Christianity know this better than we do, and that’s why often they work so hard to keep it out of the hands of their people. In the 16th century, Martin Luther realized the power of mass producing the Bible on the printing press. For the first time ever, it was put into the hands of not just the priests, but everyday, ordinary people. That lone action is said to have sparked the Protestant Revolution.

Even in the struggle to read it, it has power to change our world for the better. Perhaps the greatest struggle is to open its cover and read the words contained within.

How many of you have gone to the Scripture when:

a. you were faced with the death of a loved one?

b. you were discouraged to the point of giving up on life?

c. you needed direction for a decision that had to be made?

The Scripture penetrates our lives, touching us in our time of need.

This morning, join me in a commitment in 2022 that we will truly be people of the Book, not in name only.

But that we will, as a White Bluff Methodist, truly commit ourselves to seeking its truth, to finding it a growing part of our lives.

My commitment is to read through the Word in 2022. I am currently listening to the Bible each day. I listen to at least 4 chapters a day. For me, I think that the binge method is going to work the best. It may not be for everybody, but it seems to be working for me. Even though it will take me a while, I am reading it straight through and hope to finish well before the end of the year. One of my favorite professors once said that one person’s freedom is another person’s bondage, meaning that what works for me may not work for you. The point is not to feel obligated to read all the way through in a year, especially if you’ve never done it before, but to read some Scripture regularly and to apply it to your life. If you don’t know where to start, the Book of John in the New Testament can be a great place. I read from John 1 for the Christmas Eve Service when I read about that Jesus is the Word and the Light. Jesus is the Light of the World that came to the earth… he was God in the flesh.

Today, if you would like to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I invite you to pray the prayer Billy Graham coined known as the Salvation Poem...

I invite you to pray it with me, whether you are committing your life to Christ for the first time or recommitting your life to Christ,

SALVATION POEM