To The Word!
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Here we are at the end of 2023.
Congratulations. You have survived another trip around the sun. Almost.
It is customary for many people to take advantage of the end of the year and plan for the new year, making goals, plans, and resolving to do better in one area or another. We all recognize that we aren’t perfect people, so how can I better myself in the year 2024. New year New me, right?
Whether or not you set new years resolutions, or goals, or whatnot, that’s between you, your family, and the Lord.
I do know that there is one thing in particular that you can do that could very have the greatest impact on your life if you were to really give yourself to it. It is a certain habit that is increasingly neglected in a time when it is arguably increasingly needed.
We live in a world of constant change. We face pressures on every side.
We all have our internal struggles against our flesh and sin. The devil and his demonic hoard would love nothing more than to see each of us make shipwreck of our faith, and so, as Paul says, he hurls his flaming darts at us to wear us down.
Then there are the challenges we all face from people around us. Where we work, our families, our classmates, our neighbors. Some times these relationships are challenging and demanding and can cause pain, joy, confusion, or delight, sometimes all of those feelings on the same day with the same person!
Then there are things that are going on in the world that affect us, but we don’t have much direct influence or control about those things. I’m thinking of things like economic policy. We can vote for our preferred candidate, but when laws are passed we get to live with that until laws are changed again. We as individuals don’t have a lot of control over these things, but they can weigh on us and they do affect us from a day to day stand point. We all feel the effect of inflation. We all feel the effects of a bull market or bear market, even if we aren’t invested personally in the market.
Then there are global things. Russia. Ukraine. China. North Korea. Hamas. Israel. All these things can weigh on our hearts and minds, and while to some it might seem far off waaay over there, the reality is that various conflicts that take place around the world can have an affect on our lives. We all remember fire drills, about what to do in case of a fire.
A while back I was learning about life during the cold war. Most of us are too young to remember what it was like to live under the cold war and have nuke drills. And yet the threat may not be any less today than it was back then. And the reality is that those foreign conflicts to affect us on a day to day basis. Oil prices are affected. US troops can be deployed. One nuke will change global weather patterns and affect various supply chains, etc.
The world is an unstable place, filled with unstable people. How do we remain stable in an unstable world? When the boat gets rocked, how do we maintain our sea legs?
In the year 2024, what can you do to actively build stability into your life when the world is such an unstable place?
The answer to that question is not complicated. It doesn’t mean it is easy, but it’s not complicated.
Whether we stand or fall depends on two key factors. What is your standing before almighty God. and what is your relationship to His Word.
The most fundamental reality for each of us has to begin with our relationship to almighty God.
Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as the only means of your salvation?
Do you recognize your sinful condition that is the cause of God’s righteous wrath directed toward you?
Do you look to Jesus Christ, the one we just spent the last several weeks celebrating as the one who came into the world, God made human, who died on the cross for our sin, rose again offers life and light to all who would repent and believe?
Have you thus repented of your sin, crying out to God for forgiveness, and placed your trust in Him and Him alone to save you?
Your baptism cannot save you. Being better than the next person cannot save you. Being in this building on Sundays cannot save you.
Only the grace of God which comes to you through faith has the power to save.
If you reject the message of the Gospel, I have no words of hope for you for stability and life in the new year.
For those who embrace Jesus as savior, The Spirit of God is now at work in your heart and life. And do you know what the number one thing He uses to bring about positive change in your life is?
It’s the Word of God.
The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and uses it to transform you into the person He created you to be.
Your relationship to this book, the Word of God, is going to be the number one factor in your life. Your neglect or attendance to this book will be the single greatest determiner of how your year goes in 2024.
You might ask, how can you possibly know that.
Well. let’s open this book up and see what God says about His Word.
There are many passages we could turn to that speak of the nature of the Word, the power of the Word, the effects of the Word.
Indeed, I desired to do a walk through of the bible of all the things that God says about His own word in this sermon, but had to cut much of that for the sake of time.
Starting all the way back in Genesis 1, we find the creative work of God. And how does he do it? By the power of His word. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God said. And God said. The word of God is powerful
Later when God speaks to Abraham and promises him that he will he will have descendants as numerous as the starts, Genesis 15:6 “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Believing the Word of God, trusting in what God promised, was accredited to Abraham as righteousness.
Later on when God gave the law to Moses. There were all the laws and commandments given, and God says this to the people
You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
We need to be careful here. Some have taken this verse to mean that the Israelites were saved by their own works in keeping the law. But that is not the meaning of the words “he shall live by them”.
God had promised physically blessing and flourishing to Israel if she would obey the Law of Moses and live as God has instructed.
What is being communicated here is that those who pursued obedience to the Law of God would live, they would be blessed, they would flourish. They would find provision for themselves and their families.
The Word of God brought wisdom for life such that for those who lived in obedience to it would find that they would have a fruitful life!
The Psalms are full of references to the Word of the Lord.
Psalm one
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Blessed, or as the CSB translates it, Happy. Happy is the one who forsakes the wicked and instead takes their delight in God’s law. The revealed word of God.
If you delight in the Word, it will result in your personal happiness. I’ll explain more of how that works later on.
Flip ahead to Psalm 19.
In this Psalm we find information about both natural revelation and special revelation. Natural revelation is the world God has created. The Heavens declare the glory of God!
The very world that God has created speaks about the greatness of God.
But then the psalmist goes on to write about special revelation, which is the Word of God.
Psalm 19:7–11 “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
The Word of God is referred to in several different ways. The Law of the Lord. The Testimony of the Lord. The Precepts. The commandment. The Rules.
All of it refers to one thing: the Word of God.
And notice the effect that it has:
It revives the soul. It renews life! God’s word is stimulating and brings life!
It makes wise the simple. You don’t have to have a masters degree in bible and theology to benefit from God’s word. The “simple” refers to everyday people. The word of God provides sufficient wisdom that those who might have been previously described as “simple-minded” can later be called wise because of their time spent in this book.
It rejoices the heart. When the Word of God is read and understood, it will make our heart glad! Happy is the one who takes delight in the Word of God, as we saw from Psalm 1.
It enlightens the eyes. Do you want to see clearly? Do you want have a right understanding of the world around you? The Word of God can give you that.
The psalm goes on to say that the Word of God is more valuable than gold and sweater than honey.
We are warned against sin by the Word.
Keeping the Word brings great reward.
If we had time, I would walk us through Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is an accrostic psalm that declares all the goodness of the Word of God.
It begins with these words, which reminds us of Psalm 1, Psalm 119:1-2
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
The psalmist will go on to describe how the Word of God guards us against sin, it guides us in life, and it brings stability when all the world is against you.
Isaiah write about how the Word of God is effective.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God’s word doesn’t miss! He accomplished His purposes through His word!
As we come into the NT we find that the that God communicates in a unique way in sending Jesus Christ. He is the Word. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
and as we saw last week, John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
But even Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, He continually pointed the people back to the written word as he ministered to them.
And in the garden as he is praying for His followers, He asks that God would sanctify His people, to cause them to grow in holiness. How is that accomplished?
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Our personal holiness will be connected to our relationship to this book.
In the epistles we find why this is the case. These are words that are so familiar to us, but are so significant in their meaning.
It is through the Word of God that we do have salvation for our souls.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
That’s the Word of God for your salvation. The revelation from God about Jesus is our salvation!
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Later Paul will write about scripture:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
This is why God’s word is all the things that Psalmists wrote about. This why: It is the very word of God, breathed out by Him. It teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains us unto completion so that we would be equipped for every good work.
It makes complete sense, then, why Paul would say in Col 3:16
Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
and why Peter wrote that
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
and then later in the same chapter
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
I have been going so incredibly fast, and I apologize for that. There is so much more that could be said. God’s word equips, encourages, brings joy, brings stability, helps us against sin, guides us in life, makes us wise, and is wholly sufficient for our sanctification.
Are those things you want in your life? I know I want them in mine.
I came across two studies this week about the effect of regular time in the Word has on individuals.
According to this study, those who spend meaningful time in the Word of God at least 4 times a week were
30% less likely to feel lonely
30% less likely to have significant anger issues
32% less likely to have bitterness
40% less likely to be alcoholic
57-60% less likely to engage in sexual immorality, including sex outside of marriage and view pornography
and were 200% more likely to share their faith and 230% more likely to be in a discipling relationship with someone else.
The remarkable detail about that study is that the single greatest determiner of these effects was time in the word at least four times a week. Those who engaged the Word of God 1-3 times a week saw no statistically significant differences from those who don’t engage the Word at all.
Those who attended church without engaging the Word through the week saw no significant statistical difference.
The massive jumps in all these areas were only seen in those who meaningfully engaged the word at least four times a week.
A second study which incorporated Bible Study into a treatment program for people with truama saw significant reduction in PTSD, depression, anxiety, and a significant increase in feelings of hope, forgiveness, and a sense of purpose.
The results of these studies should not surprise us. God has told us what his word accomplishes in his people. It’s no wonder that those who give themselves to a regular diet of the Word of God find these kinds of results, and we don’t need these studies to have confidence in the Word.
I can tell you anecdotally. When I am more disciplined in my own life in the areas of personal Bible reading, I am more resilient against various temptations. I find more joy in my life.
The times when I have fallen into sin, have almost always been in seasons where I neglected the regular discipline of being in the Word.
Again, that should not be surprising.
Now, I do want to note that I am not saying a few things.
1. I am not saying that reading your bible is a magic cure all. I am not saying that all your troubles will end if you just start reading your bible.
You might find that some of your trouble end because as your dig into the word you find an area of life that is out of step with what God has said, and so some of the trouble is because of your own foolish choices.
But there are many troubles that will remain because we live in a fallen world. I’m not saying all your trouble will end. I am saying that you will be given the strength and the wisdom to weather the storm in such a way that honors the Lord through the hardship.
2. I’m not saying that the effects will be instant. I’m not saying that if you start reading in January you will see all this amazing change in your life before Spring.
This is a marathon not a sprint. This is like investing with compound interest. Investing your time consistently over the long haul will eventually yield massive returns. But it takes time for the compounding effect to be noticeable.
3. I am not saying that building this discipline in your life is easy. If you do not have this habit in your life, it can be challenging to get started. I am hoping to provide you with some tools today to help you, but I fully recognize that it can be a challenge.
I can promise you though, that the more you work at it the easier it gets. When you first start exercising or you begin working a muscle that hasn’t been used in a long time, You find that you are sore. But the more you keep at it, the more benefit you have.
So. Do you want stability in your life? Do you want to see God work to shape your heart? Do you want see God’s joy, and hope, and peace produced through the Word? Do you want to be conformed to image of Christ?
Here are my practical encouragements to you.
When you came in today, you were given a copy of a book. This book contains many practical encouragements for engaging the Word. It’s a simple read designed with the every day person in view. Read it.
Over on the table are copes of four different bible reading plans. There is saying that goes “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” Let’s have a plan. If you do not have this discipline already in your life, I encourage you to start simple. If someone has never lifted weights, we don’t load up the barbell with 200lbs. We start with the empty bar and get the movements down. That is my suggestion for you. Start with reading the NT in a year. That plan is designed to be read 5 days a week, giving you time to catch up if you miss a day or two. If one year seems too long to read the NT, there is a six month NT reading plan as well. If you’ve never read the OT through, there is a plan to read the OT in the year. And then there is a year long read the entire bible chronologically plan as well. If none of those suit you, visit biblereadingplangenerator.com and custom build a plan that will work for you. I personally find that 6 month plans are more effective for me, and I like to read 6 days a week.
Decide when is the best time for you to read. For most people, first thing in the morning is best. That’s the best time for me. I find my mind is the clearest and I can focus better. Once the day gets rolling my mind begins to fill with all the things that need to happen and its harder to focus. So I read in the morning while my mind is still quiet. If there is another time of day that works better for you, do that instead.
Begin with prayer. “Lord, give me understanding today as I read. Help me learn from you. Help me understand more about you. Help me worship you as I read your word”
Do the reading. Highlight significant passages. Take note of confusing details. Reach out with questions.
Spend a few minutes afterword reflecting on what you have read. Instead of just checking off boxes and setting it aside, sit and reflect on what you have read. Pray and ask for God’s strength to live as directed by the Word.
If you struggle with staying one task while reading, consider listening to an audio bible as you read. but be willing to pause the recording if you need to reflect more on something.
Some time ago someone asked me why I decided to pursue ministry.
The answer is really quite simple.
I believe that this book is the very word of God. It’s what he has revealed to us. If God has spoken, I want to do everything I can to help others hear it.
I have personally seen how God has used his word to effect positive change in my life and the lives of others. It’s exciting! It’s life-giving! Knowing what God has done for me fills me with motivation to help others see the same thing in their life.
So I want to know more of God and His Word. and I want others to have the same benefit.
This is why we spend so much time in the word on week in, week out basis here. This is why we study it on Wednesdays. This is why we use the Word to guide our prayer times on Sunday Mornings. This is why