The Word of God is Alive and Active

 

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In the last post I wrote about how believing in Jesus saves us and what "belief" really means.

Read: Believe in the Lord Jesus and You Will Be Saved >>

In order to believe in anything we need first to learn about it and in the case of Christ, the main source we have is the Bible. In the New Testament the four accounts of Jesus' life and teaching (the Gospels), the history of the early church (the Acts of the Apostles) and the letters from the Apostles to the earliest church communities (the Epistles), combined with the vision of John (the Book of Revelation) give us many reasons to believe in Jesus. The Old Testament books, often called the Hebrew Scriptures, give us the lengthy back story of how God has dealt with humanity in the past and insights into how he will fulfil his future plans.

Collectively, the books that make up Bible are considered to be the inspired word of God and can be relied upon to accurately tell us who Jesus is and why we should believe in him. 

There are many ways in which you can test the veracity of the Bible and this is an area of study in and of itself. I'll add a few links to videos that will serve as jumping off points if you are interested in learning more. 

Where Did the Bible Come From? - Tim Mackie (45 min video)  

Is the Bible Reliable? - J. Warner Wallace (90 min video)

Has the Bible Been Corrupted?  - Dr. Daniel Wallace -New Testament Scholar (60 mins video)

Skeptic Challenges Reliability of the Bible - Frank Turek (10 min video)

The Case For Christ Documentary - Lee Strobel (70 min video)

Once you've done the research to satisfy your intellectual curiosity, or doubts, then it's more likely that you'll believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and an accurate account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection because you've looked at the evidence.

Believing in the veracity of the Bible, allows us to learn about who Jesus is and what he did while on earth; in other words it helps us believe things about him. This is only one aspect of belief and will lead us to believe that Jesus actually existed; that he was was a wise teacher and prophet; performed miracles; made claims to be the Messiah and the Son of God and that he would return at some point in the future to save those who believe in him. But believing facts about Jesus and his life and teaching are not the same as believing in him. 

When we believe in him our lives and selves begin to change. This is because God's written and spoken word has the power to transform us from within. Many people have read the Bible and not been changed by it, or come to believe in Jesus, so there must be something else at play here. The Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Truth, is the power within God's word, that helps us to understand the truth and so be changed by it. If we are not open to being changed because we have some barriers up toward Christ and his teachings, then we won't be open to the transformational power of God's word.

I remember early on in my Bible study, I was simply reading to learn and understand. I had many biases against Christianity and becoming a Christian, but I was interested in reading the Bible for myself. It was probably a good few months before I understood the truth of what I was reading. I remember clearly one day saying to myself, "I think this is true." I can't remember what book I was reading at the time, but I distinctly remember a change in me, almost against my will. I was finally able to admit that I believed in Jesus.

Months later when I was reading a book by C.S. Lewis called "Surprised by Joy", I came to the point in his autobiography where he described the moment that he came to believe and found that it was surprisingly similar to how I felt.

"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." 

I think many who come to faith later in life, having lived within an ever-increasing secular society, spend a lot of time trying to prove that God does not exist and that Christianity is false. It would certainly be easier to be a non-believer and settle back into the comfort of subjective spirituality and yet against all odds we come to believe that Christ is who he says he is and that the Bible is true.

All truths change us, whether they are personal truths, or truths about what is happening in the world. Over the past decade many uncomfortable truths have come out that we may prefer not to accept because they are jarring. It makes us feel unsettled when our foundational beliefs are challenged. Whether we are religious or not, we all have a set of beliefs that help us to make sense of the world. Because these beliefs give us a sense of stability, we may even tell ourselves comfortable lies to keep our belief system in place. This often happens slowly over time, but it can lead us to become delusional in our thinking as we ignore, or immediately deride, anything that contradicts our belief system. This is now commonplace and is bolstered by the popular idea that there is no objective truth to found, especially when it comes to spiritual matters.  It's all seen as  being just a matter of opinion.

When I make a claim about the Bible being the inspired word of God, some people will baulk at that statement and claim that there are many paths to God and many true spiritual texts. But isn't that just an opinion that allows us to maintain whatever comfortable belief system we have in place? It's much easier to believe that there are many true religions and many true paths to God because it means we don't have to think. We can just believe it on faith and have the added benefit of feeling inclusive and tolerant.  But is it true?

Our subjective opinions, no matter how strongly we believe in them, are not necessarily true. In order to find the objective truth of anything we need to look at the evidence and weigh both sides of the argument. We can test the claims and teachings of other religions and compare them to Christ's teachings and ask which has the best evidence to back them up and more importantly, which ones actually help us to transform? Unfortunately, many people choose not to do the hard work and simply adopt a spirituality that is vague, comforting and superficial. The apostle Paul predicted this nearly two thousand years ago in his letter to Timothy.

"For a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." 2 Timothy 4:3-4

These myths may make us feel good in the moment but rarely change us, unless it's for the worse. Many people today are seeking peace through mindfulness, meditation and yoga because they think that cultivating a sense of detachment will lead them to enlightenment. This can lead people to become too detached from life so that they never face up to their problems. They may convince themselves that seeking peace is the true spiritual path simply because it makes them feel better. On the other hand, seeking the truth can often bring us pain because we have to face our shortcomings, failures and mistakes. You can see why many choose to seek peace rather than the truth.

The Holy Spirit, which is God's Spirit, is called the Spirit of Truth (John 14:7 and 16:13). Jesus taught people about facing the truth, suffering and sacrifice much more than he did about seeking peace, because he knew that it was the truth, not just peace, that would set us free. You cannot be free when you are trapped within delusional thinking; you can only be set free by accepting the truth of your situation and indeed reality as a whole.

We are told by the apostle Paul that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. When we hear the true word of God, his Spirit comes to live within us, transforming us into the person he wants us to be.

"Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you." 1 Corinthians 3:16

'Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God." 1 Corinthians 6:19

"Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." John 14:23

How does this work? Jesus gives us the analogy of his words being like seeds planted within us in his parable about the sower (Luke 8:4-15). On a very basic level we understand that words have the power to change us. If we are subjected to abusive words we may lose our self-esteem and shrink back from life, but if we are encouraged and supported by others' words our confidence will grow and we will be more likely to succeed in life. Words spoken, or written, to each other can make us despair, or give us great joy. How much more power then do God's words have to change us?

In the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament, we read that God's word is alive and active.

"For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

God's word created the universe and can bring us all to nothing in an instant. It has unimaginable creative and transformational power, which anyone who has studied the Bible will bear witness to. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14), which is not an easy thing to understand, but it speaks to Jesus' power to transform and save us because he is the Word of God made manifest.

We connect with God today by reading his word and opening up a communication channel with him through prayer spoken aloud, or through our thoughts. God's word accomplishes much in our lives; it cleanses us, it heals us; it causes us to believe, which leads to salvation. His word is intrinsically linked with his Spirit (see the creation narrative in Genesis 1) and it is the Spirit who was sent to us to be our comforter, helper and teacher after Jesus ascended back into heaven. Jesus tells his disciples this before he leaves them.

"These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." John 14:25-26

"When the day of Pentecost (after Jesus had let them) arrived, they (disciples) were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:1-4

One of my favourite accounts in the Bible that demonstrates the link between God's word and Spirit is the story of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. It also shows us that God often acts in surprising ways that upend our dearly held beliefs. The apostle Peter had be told by the Holy Spirit to go to the house of a Roman centurion, Cornelius. This is something that Peter would not have expected because the Jews of the time were still very much separate from non-Jews (Gentiles) and did not mix with Romans. When Peter arrived at Cornelius' house he said to him.

"You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me I should not call anyone common or unclean." Acts 10:28

Cornelius, although not a Jew, was "a devout man who feared God." and while praying, an angel appeared to him and told him to send some men to bring Peter to his house.  He did as the angel said and his men went to fetch Peter, who had no idea why he was being summoned. Cornelius tells him that he and his family want to hear what Peter had been preaching. At this point Peter has to reassess his beliefs about God and his ultimate plan, because God had reached out to Cornelius, a non-Jew, by sending an angel to him after he heard his prayer.

"So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Acts 10:34-35

Peter then tells Cornelius and his household about Jesus' ministry, followed by the story of his death and resurrection and ultimate mission.

"To him (Jesus) all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." Acts 10:43

Upon hearing this testimony of Peter, the Holy Spirit fell on everyone gathered there, mirroring what happened at Pentecost to Jesus' Jewish followers. 

"While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word." Acts 10:44

All it took for these non-Jews to receive the Holy Spirit and be saved was for them to hear about Jesus, what he had done and what he was going to do.  Later, in the apostle Paul's letter to the church in Rome, he sums up this promise.

"So, faith comes through hearing and hearing through the word of God." Romans 10:14-17

When Peter returned to Jerusalem, some of Jesus Jewish followers were not happy when they heard that "the Gentiles had also received the word of God." (Acts 11:1) and the gift of the Holy Spirit, perhaps because it came so easily to Cornelius and his family. After all, their Jewish ancestors had a long and arduous history with God through slavery, law-keeping, wilderness, war and exile. It must have seemed unfair to the Jews that the Gentiles were accepted by God just because they heard about and believed in Jesus; but they eventually saw the wisdom in God's ways.

"If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I (Peter) that I could stand in God's way? When they (Jewish followers) heard these things they  feel silent. And they glorified God, saying "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life (salvation)." Acts 11:17-18

Perhaps they thought back to Genesis and remembered that God's Word and Spirit created the heavens and the earth.

"And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light." Genesis 1:2-3

If his Word and Spirit brought everything into existence, surely his Word and Spirit could transform the Gentiles as well as the Jews, after all, everything is possible with God.

The reason why I love this story is that I too had the experience of being brought to repentance by reading the word of God. The more I read the Bible the closer I felt to God, until one day I broke down in tears as the Holy Spirit drew out of me all the pain, shame, blame, anger, rage, guilt, rejection and sadness that I had been holding on to. At the same time I felt an indescribably powerful love healing me of all the trauma I had been through and a sense of being forgiven for all the wrong I had done to others. Afterward, I felt like I had been purified and I was so grateful for the experience, which came from reading and hearing the word of God. 

God's methods are often surprisingly simple because he wants us all to be saved and brought back into his family. Some people find the simplicity of his methods offensive because they haven't experienced it themselves (like the Jewish followers in Jerusalem), or they prefer to follow a religion or institution. Institutions can give us a feeling of stability and certainty, but they can also be taken away from us as they were during the Covid pandemic lockdowns. 

This is why God made it easy for us to be in relationship with him, outside the institutional walls and rituals. We only need to seek him to find him and if we read his word and let it abide within us, it will give us the faith we need when times get tough. 

He is the ever-lasting rock and his loving, transformational power can never be taken away from us.

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were dug." Isaiah 51:1

"You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.' Isaiah 26:3-4

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Seek, hear and believe.

What could be simpler than that?