The Word

Jn.1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

What is a word? It can be a written symbol (i.e.Chinese) that has been designated before to represent or communicate a thought or thing. It can be an organized collection of letters (i.e.English) that can be understood by those who have been taught that particular phonetic code and again communicate with others. It can be a verbal sound that can be produced by systematically contouring air that is purposely forced out of our lungs and thereby understood by the hearers who have been taught the sounds and their meaning, otherwise called a language. So the bottom line is that in any form a “word” is a means of communication as well a the communication itself.

Now the means of communication is subservient to the essence of the communication itself. For instance if a person is trapped beneath an automobile and one person hollers “Help!” and another screams “Come quickly!” the different words are meant to communicate the same thing. A stop sign communicates the same thing as if a person shouted “Stop!”. Two different forms of communication but the essence of the communication is more important than the manner in which it is communicated.

Now the substance of what is being communicated is paramount but the means of communication are not necessarily equally as effective. Anyone who has played charades or Pictionary will testify to the fact that it would be so much easier to speak than to act out whatever the designated communication they are trying to make the other person understand. So the manner in which someone communicates is important only insomuch as to the degree the thing that is being communicated is not altered. To speak in English to a person who does not understand that language is obviously ineffective because what is trying to be communicated is not making the connection to the other person and with that there is limited if any understanding.

Alright, now let us examine God’s Word in the light of some of these afore mentioned principles. The Word of God is not just communication it is wholly and purely truth. It is without error and without the slightest hint of deception or inaccuracy. So when we say God’s Word we mean both communication and truth, that which is and is revealed. God Himself is truth, without error or deception, so God is His Word and the Word is God. Inseparable and in essence - One. Hold onto that thought because it is the most important part of God, His Word, and the communication of that Word. It is pure and absolute truth.

So it is paramount and exclusively important that God’s Word is communicated in a way that most effectively preserves and translates that pristine truth.

Now the Holy Spirit can help in that communication even when it is somewhat diluted, but we do well to remember the more the Word is changed the more it is open to deception and error which can be succinctly summed up as “lies”. Television documentaries have shown us scientists working on an extremely rare element or compound which cannot be contaminated in any way, and they sometimes have to reach it with robot like arms while the substance remains in a vacuum like compartment. The scientists themselves are sometimes outfitted with space suits that keeps them from being the source of the contaminant. If the element is contaminated by anything it is rendered useless or at the very least suspect.

And so it is with God’s Word, it must be handled with extreme care and protection lest it becomes contaminated and is rendered diluted and the essence of the absolute truth contained in its communication is compromised. Now there are different methods of communicating God’s Word but not all the methods are equally effective. Figures on a flannel board can communicate some of God’s Word but without explanation they are very nebulous and open to fleshly interpretation. Drama can communicate God’s Word but there again without corresponding explanation it is very general and open to each person’s interpretation which usually means we accept the least painful and exposing interpretation. Object lessons can be helpful but only upon the foundation of Scripture.

What is the best and most effective method for communicating God’s Word while attempting to preserve the integrity of the truth inherent in His Word? I am glad you asked, but let’s ask God what He thinks (knows)

Matt.4:17 - From that time Jesus began to preach and to say…
Acts 5:42 - And daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Ti.1:3 - But hath in due times manifested his Word through preaching…
I Cor.1:21 - …it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

And these are just a sampling of the verses that show that the preaching and teaching of God’s Word through verbal communication is God’s preferred method. Now although that is the preferred medium of communicating God’s Word of truth, what is the foundation from which we must draw our verbal transference of the Word of Truth? Since God is a spirit how can a spirit be funneled into understandable communication through speech? How can a spirit be spelled out in recognizable written words that contain in them the exact essence of errorless truth? To put it more clearly how can God Himself be refined and distilled into human words that not only accurately reveal Him but actually are Him?

Wow, there is the miraculous mystery upon which all others hang. The written Word of God that was delivered through human vessels and preserved through several millennium are without question the foundation and immutable bedrock of our faith. Apart from receiving them by faith as the written Word of God there is no authority except the opinions of man. So with the immaculate truth of God’s Word as the source, we must take every precaution to handle His Word with reverence and endeavoring to present it without any fleshly taint. That, my friends, is no easy task in this cursed world and especially when there now is a widespread notion that God’s Word can be communicated by many different methods without regard to accurately protecting the integrity of its inherent truth.

Imagine a man who is attempting to escape a building that is engulfed in flames and he arrives at three different doors labeled 1,2, and 3, all of which say “exit”. Now in reality only one door leads to escape so he is confused. He looks and sees the security guard running toward the doors and he shouts to the man, “Which door leads out?”. As the guard continues running he hollers back to the man, “Watch and see!”. Now the guard runs and obscured by the smoke he opens door #1 and escapes. The confused man cannot see which door the guard went through but he has heard the guard say “Door number 3”, or so he thought. Do you see what has happened? The general and non-specific nature of the security guard’s communication has caused the other man to believe a lie.

And such is the nature of much of what passes today as God’s Word when it is communicated in a general, non-specific, and context free method. This is no game of jacks, this is the continuing and worsening misrepresentation of God’s Word which is the misrepresentation of God Himself. And instead of protecting the Word from impurities and worldly influences they are purposely mixed in with God’s Word and fed to the masses. Most of the warning, most of the judgment, most of the wrath, most of the holiness, most of the hell, most of the correction, and most of anything that is negative has been removed from God’s Word and it is now presented as a self help manual written in a general way to help you achieve your maximum pleasure in this life.

That is not the Word of God, that is the word of man and it kills, eternally. I constantly have said that we need a revival that begins with prayer and fasting, but coupled with that is a desperately needed revival of the sacredness and awesomeness of the written Word of the Living God. A movement of God’s Spirit that through repentance brings us back again to rely wholly and exclusively of what God has and is saying (they are the same). Forget about politics forget about intellectualism, forget about all these new purpose - seeker - emergent movements that claim to have found a new and more effective way to communicate God’s Word. Away with them all, they are all poisonous mixtures of the flesh of man with a very little of God’s truth sprinkled in to appear “Biblical”. The Word itself has been dismantled and reformed to appeal to the carnal nature of man and God Himself is presented as a fixer of all man’s ills and inconveniences. And any attempt to conform the Word to a specific culture or historical context instead of culture and time frame conformed by God's Word is anti-christ at its core.

What should we do? Open God’s Word as if it was just handed to you personally from the Father and hear Him say, “This is my beloved Word in whom I am well pleased, hear ye them!”. Let us consume and obey the Word of God as if it was infinitely more important than earthly food itself. Not just defend it from enemies but protect and insulate it from ourselves and our fleshly opinions. And through prayerful brokenness allow the Spirit to engraft the eternal Word into our very beings and see the Word change us from glory to glory.

We must first become utterly discontent with our present place on the journey to Christlikeness and with that repent and press, press, press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Amen.