The Word

“ Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

Believe only half of what you see, and none of what you hear. That's a good motto, when the communication comes to you from the world . Everyone has something to sell. Everybody has a position they want you to take. Folks are running for office. Folks are selling their cars. Folks are selling lifestyles. Folks are selling philosophies. They want to sell you on what they have.

A Chico man is a state consultant for a political party. More than once his campaign strategies have been employed at crucial times in elections. One year he put out the word on his candidate's opponent regarding sexual misconduct, just days before voters went to the polls. The tide of public opinion was moved away from the accused man, just in time to lose him the election and gain it for the other candidate. There was no time to prove the truth. The word was spoken, and the outcome of an election was changed. St. James wrote: “ The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8

The Internet is the most powerful new medium of our age. In a second, you can send a word or phrase into Google , and up pops a screen full of references and articles and opinions and related information. The problem with the Internet, of course, is nobody is monitoring it for truth. You could do a doctorate thesis from a vast sea of Internet information, but if you didn't independently corroborate every “fact” gleaned from this information superhighway , you could be basing everything you write on pure lies. Beware Internet knowledge.

Have you gotten emails about congressional bills about to control churches, African government officials wanting to send you millions of dollars stolen from dictators, viruses embedded in your hard drive with the telltale symbol of a teddy bear? These were all urban legends, whoppers transmitted with the speed and power of an electronic rumor mill. Millions of us fall for such rumors daily. Then we learn.

The slanted story-telling of the media that often passes for news makes the old yellow journalism of earlier days seem obvious. When our ox has been gored enough times by a press corps on a vendetta, we turn it off, stop believing, become jaded and cynical of all we hear. That's okay. We should all learn such lessons. Just because it's in the paper, or on TV, doesn't mean it's true.

The man on the box wears a $1,200 suit. His hair is impossibly big and stiff, coiffured and colored to make him look years younger than he is. He dramatically pauses, grips the microphone like it's made of money, stomping up and down the stage like a circus lion and gesticulates like someone snapping a whip. Sweat beads on his forehead, but butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. “Jeee-sus-ah,” is how he pronounces our Lord's Name. He is preaching. We may watch for a while, amazed at this performance. Then switch channels.

Communication, information, words are how we learn, grow, become more than what we are. The content of man's entire history, with all human endeavors, received knowledge, the truth and the lies, are all in print and available to most of the world in an instant. It's a phenomenal fact: more information is instantly available today than ever before—more than we could ever read or put to use. I have a 30-volume Britannica sitting in our bookshelf above a 38-volume set of the Church fathers. Have I read all of these? Impossible ! Sitting near them is Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language . We sometimes play a family game with that. With 5 or more people, some paper and pens, we take turns looking up words that nobody has ever heard of, then each person invents a possible meaning for it. The fake meanings are read along with the real definition and everyone votes for the one he or she thinks is real. How easy it is to be fooled by such words as “wungout” and “orchialgia.”

When man speaks, things can change. Abraham Lincoln is best known for some of his choice speeches. Kennedy's “Ask not what your country can do for you…” still rings in our ears, as does Dr. King's, “I have a dream…” Will Shakespeare coined hundreds of phrases we still use today. But when God speaks, worlds are born, history changes dramatically, stars spring forth in the sky and all humanity comes under His blessings and judgments . God speaks, and we must listen—the creation hears and responds.

“ God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Genesis 1:3 God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 1:6 Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. 1:9 Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 1:11 Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. 1:14 Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 1:20 God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 1:22 God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 1:24 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 1:26 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion... 1:28 And it was so.” 1:30

God spoke creation— light, earth, sky, life, mankind —into being. His Word creates. His Word can simply make what is out of nothing. There is power in God's Word beyond rumors, lies and urban legends. Satan speaks and mankind may be beguiled, betrayed into sin. God speaks, and a Savior is born.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:1-14

But we've heard lies. We've heard sales pitches. We've heard the phony preachers who posed as righteous men of God and who fell to greed and many other vices. We've become hardened by the trampling of the world so our ears take in only what we want to hear. When I read the newspaper, I breeze by the headlines, figuring I already know what the article is going to say, and finally land upon the page I call “The Truth.” I start with Pickles , then Dilbert and on to Hagar and Peanuts and Dennis . They never lie to me. But for the rest: I'm a hard sell. There have been news articles written about me, and I knew I was at that interview and that I said many things and none of that got into the funny papers. I'm hard to convince with the printed word. But the Word of God goes out in print, in the Holy Bible , to such people as I, and how is it received? Do we hear it? Do we believe it? It has transforming power.

The writer to the Hebrews put it this way:

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3

God spoke to the prophet Isaiah thus: “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Isaiah 45:23 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11

God speaks and worlds are born. But do we listen to Him? Are we too jaded, too cynical to believe Him. He promises us great things. He also commands a high standard. He wants us to walk in the path of His Son.

Jesus never used the prophets' preambles, “Thus saith the Lord…,” “The Word of the Lord came unto me…” He didn't have to. He is the Lord. He is God. His Word is THE WORD. When He commands us, He speaks from God's throne. The Word became flesh. The Word died to save us from sin. The Word rose from death alive forever. The Word still lives and waits to return . That day will be terrible. Signs in heaven, sun and moon and stars, the earth coming apart: these will herald Christ's return, coming in a cloud with power and glory. He told us these things. Jesus is returning. He knows all things. He is our judge. Is there anything else more important? Your life in eternity is in His Hands. What holds anyone back from receiving Him as Lord of this life and the next?

We may doubt. We may fear. I s this just another cheat? What is the man in that ridiculous outfit trying to sell me? When do they ask for my money? Cynicism borne out of real experience will send many souls to perdition, refusing to hear the good news in the suspicion that it's just a trick, empty promises, more broken vows.

We break vows. We fail to stand behind promises. Human beings, well— we're not to be trusted . But God in human flesh proved beyond a doubt that He was the real thing. A man speaks forgiveness from the cross, then raises Himself from the grave. He has no hidden agenda. He is not looking to rip you off. He ascended to heaven without a nickel of your money. Worship Him . Follow Him . Believe Him . And know that He is here for you right now. He said it, I didn't. “ Take, eat. This is my Body. Drink of this, every one of you. This is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, for the remission of your sins.” He did die. And He yet lives. He has the power to do what He promises. Are you ready to believe Someone again? You can't see Him. You most likely can't hear His voice out loud this morning. If you could see a man, and hear the man's voice, you might have reason to doubt the illusion. But there is no illusion . Christ is here and we know it because Christ promised and He died to prove His promises are true. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” You have His Word on it.

PFH+