|
|
Back to Sermons Index Back to Home Page 6th April 2008 AM'THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF GOD'S WORD' Pastor Colin MeadowsNehemiah 8:1-12, Psalm 19: 7-11, Luke 6:46-49
Ø Awash with information: We live in the Information Age it is said. Awash with masses of data, billions of pages of words and pictures, video, DVD, TV, an electronic flood of gigantic proportions! But has it made us better people? Is our society being transformed by our cleverness? The same is true in religious circles. So many people with PhD’s, double degrees, letters after their names who write books about faith! People are searching for religious truth. Surveys suggest that around 40% of Americans go regularly to church, although these figures are hotly contested. The US is the hot bed of Christian publishing, it is noted, with huge outputs of religious books and other materials. Vast amounts of money going into evangelism and teaching. Yet the US has the highest imprisonment rate of any nation in the world. Associated Press Friday, December 1, 2006 noted that ‘a record 7 million people -- one in every 32 U.S. adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of 2005, a Justice Department report released yesterday shows. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to the report. More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more. We have produced a well educated society but still crime rates soar, marriages break, families struggle. What has gone wrong? What we need is not more information but rather personal transformation, to be changed from the inside out, to be renewed in our inner most being. How can that take place? Through the transforming power of God’s Word! That is what happened during Nehemiah’s time. God’s people at that time had such a hunger for God’s Word and this changed their lives. Let us explore what took place. Ø Learn from the past! We have heard the story of Nehemiah before but repetition is good! Exiled in 587BC to far off Babylon, the Israelites as a nation were able to return to their homeland around 538BC. The temple was rebuilt by 516BC amidst great excitement. Then followed a period of great uncertainty, with days filled with opposition and discouragement. Perhaps you feel a bit like that today? What else could go wrong? You started your journey with God some time back but the wheels seem to have fallen off. Listen in for there is hope! In stepped Ezra around 458BC, followed by Nehemiah in 445BC, God’s leaders for a time such at this. Under Nehemiah’s able leadership, the city wall were completed in just 52 days, in the year 444BC.! God had come upon them and strengthened them to complete the task. The people were so excited but this was just the beginning. Encouraged by what they had seen, they were now ready for further growth. We have been stretched and encouraged in our faith over past days as we have seen the new building materialize before our eyes. God has provided in ways beyond our expectations. It has been a miraculous provision but this is just the beginning. As I have said several times, the best is yet to come! What was the next step in Nehemiah’s time? Ø Bring out God’s Word! Nehemiah’s vision was not simply to reconstruct the city’s defenses but to revitalize the people’s spiritual lives. He wanted to keep them moving on with God, deepening their faith. Nehemiah and the priest Ezra thus saw the opportunity and realized what was needed. The people themselves too saw their need, that being to be fed on God’s Word and asked Ezra to help. Neh 8:1 “They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.” Having started on the journey of faith, they didn’t want to stop. Miraculous signs and provisions can only bring us so far on our journey. What was needed most of all was a steady diet of God’s Word. We have been excited over past months in the wonderful provision of our new improved facilities. This provision is just a tool however to facilitate what God wishes to do deeper in our lives and then through us to touch others. It has been exciting to meet with the large number of new friends who are joining with us week by week. That too is a wonderful miracle from God. We need now to grow by sinking deeply into God’s Word. That is what happened in Nehemiah’s time. The people assembled, men and women together, and listened carefully to the Book of the Law. Neh 8:3 “He read it aloud from daybreak till noon…. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.” The readings were probably from the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. They listened with great reverence and deep respect. As Ezra opened the book, the people stood, out of respect for the Word of God. The people were thus deeply moved by what they heard. Their response was one of awe and worship. Neh 8:6 “Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” These were people who desired God, who wished to move on. They didn’t want to stop. They were not satisfied with where they were spiritually. Let us be like them! Don’t settle for mediocrity! Keep stepping out in faith. But in order to grow, they needed to not only hear God’s Word but to have it explained to them. Ø Explain God’s Word to the people Not only did they need to hear the Word of God, but they also needed to have it explained to them in language they could understand. Neh 8:8 “They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being said.” It is thought that the scribes translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic, the language of the common people at that time. Others suggest that the scribes interpreted what the Law of God meant in everyday situations. Let us be people who listen to the Word of God and who seek to understand what it means for us in our daily living. Share what you are learning with others, beginning at home. Talk with your children or parents and friends. Be part of a small group where you can encourage each other. Listen and learn and pass on what you have learnt. Ø Respond to God’s Word in obedient living Hearing God’s Word had a deep impact on the people in Nehemiah’s time. Their immediate response was one of deep repentance and tears. Neh 8:9 “For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.” When we truly listen to the Word of God, it will bring repentance to our hearts. We will be convicted of our sins and will want to put things right with God and with others. That is what happened here. I sense at times that we don’t fully realize the full extent of our sinfulness before God and of our need for repentance. When this does happen, we find we are being drawn into a yet closer walk with God. Let us not soft pedal the pain of repentance. But let us also realize what happens next. After repentance will come joy. Neh 8:12 “Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.” That is the cycle of obedient listening to the Word of God. We hear God’s Word and understand its application in our lives. This leads to heartfelt repentance, of submission to God. From this will flow a new sense of joy, coming from hearts that have been put right with God, hearts that are now in living in obedience. Where are you with these truths today? Do you have a hunger to hear God’s Word, to listen to how it applies in your life and to then obey? Some of us perhaps say ‘Well, the Bible is quite complicated and I am not sure what some of it means.” Mark Twain countered that argument by noting that he wasn’t worried about the parts of the bible he didn’t understand. He was more worried about the parts that he did understand! Let’s stop making excuses, stop fiddling around, and get on a journey of faith! Obey what you have heard and learnt. A country pastor preached a strong message on prayer to his congregation and they were so excited by what they had heard. They went home and talked about how amazing and stimulating it had been but no one came to the midweek prayer meeting. He then preached the same message again the next week. The congregation wasn’t so excited this time but thought it was perhaps a slip up and that he had forgotten what he had said the previous week. After the third Sunday when he preached the same message again, several of the elders approached him to express their concerns. He replied ‘I will keep preaching this message until you start to obey what you are hearing.’ Allow the Word of God to transform your life! We see these truths in the lives of so many of God’s people in the bible Ø King David experienced these truths King David lived out these truths in his own life. God’s Law revived his soul and brought joy to his heart. We see that in his record in Psalm 19: Psalm 19:7 “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul, the statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.” David was aware that he desperately needed to live in obedience to God’s word if he was to grow in his journey of faith. Faithful obedience leads to change lifestyle. Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Ø Jesus taught these truths Jesus Christ came into this world as the Word of God. He became the living manifestation of God’s Word, demonstrating the life of faith. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus revealed God’s Word to us, the word made visible, the Word with skin on. We thus need to listen to what Jesus said. Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” To be a true follower of Christ is to be someone who listens to Jesus, the Word of God, and obeys what Jesus has said. The teachings of Jesus are pictured here as a rock on which we can build our lives. When the rains come then our lives will hold up. If we choose to ignore what Jesus has said and instead go our own way, then we are effectively building our lives on sand. There is no foundation to hold things steady when times get rough. Listen to God’s Word with reverential fear for it will transform our lives. Apply God’s Word in every day living, seeking to understand what it means to us. Live in obedience to God’s Word, through the power of the Holy Spirit, allowing the Word of God to change and transform us. Ø Ezra lived out these truths That is what happened in Ezra’s life. He was used by God in an amazing way, but that was because he submitted to God’s Word first. Ezra 7:10 “For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.” One could translate this verse in the Setswana bible ‘Ezra firmly established in his heart to desire God’s Law, to do it and to teach its ordinances and judgments in Israel’. Seek after God’s Word, set aside time to read it, to listen to it, to absorb its truths into your life. Seek to live out what you have learned and then seek to teach others what you have learnt and are living out. God’s Word will transform your life. I call it the HOP principle. Hear the Word of God, Obey the Word of God and Pass on God’s Word to others!
Many of you will have heard the story of a letter written to the editor of The British Weekly many years ago: DearSir:
Let us seek after God’s Word, so that it will transform our lives for the glory of God! |