God's Word: Parapet Wall #1

In previous posts I have celebrated the efforts my parents exerted to teach us God’s Word. The Word of God is the revelation of His person and purpose. One of the most profound moments in my spiritual development included the Holy Spirit’s revelation of 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." Is it too simplistic to believe, "Know the Word and you will know Jesus?" In my experience, the more I learn God’s Word, the more I fellowship with Jesus.

　
The first or primary parapet wall of revelation and understanding is God’s Word. Some master the text academically, can quote freely from memory, but lack passion, ownership which transforms and dictates direction.

　
God’s Word is to be experienced as living, enthusiastic, vibrant, applicable in real life events and challenges. When reading Deuteronomy 8:1-9 one discovers God’s intentions! God announced!

• If you hear me and obey me, you will experience the promise, my intentions toward you.
• The Lord is intent on persuading us that His ways are best. The dependence on Him resulting from humbling ourselves before His counsel is essential.
• God’s promises and provisions are more than we can anticipate.

I trust that you have found that as true in your experience as we have. The dynamic foundational truth of God’s Word was never intended to be a code of rules and regulations, but the understructure for vibrant, hope-filled living.

　
Animated conversation, laughter, tears, celebration and lament, all simple forms of life sharing among Christians, are indicators of healthy faith and that the Word is dwelling among us! For more than ten years our family frequently visited a diner following the Sunday evening services at the church we were pastoring. "Matthew’s Colonial Diner" became more commonly known as "Saint Matthews" by those who extended the Lord’s Day of lessons, songs, prayers and preaching with fellowship born in heaven. The Word "became flesh" among us and His presence was as real while we ate bagels and French toast as when we knelt at an altar.

　
The Word learned in real-life settings is ideal.　 The purposes of God are given in a dynamic familial context – Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you . . . As I reflect, my father and mother were deft in offsetting some of the pulpit excesses of our home church. Our preacher once railed on the evils of playing baseball. Shortly afterward, my Dad asked us, "How would you like to go see the Tigers play the Red Sox?" (Not all discipline, training for life, is the correction of sins the sons have done!) I just finished reading a book by a seminary theology professor who was so committed to "real-life" learning that he took students across the street from his classroom to play basketball with urban kids growing up in financially and emotionally poor environments. The basketball court class sessions were concluded in the student union where the professor treated with sodas and led conversations about the meaning of the Gospel in "real-life."

　

Finally, God’s Word, if it is to be an effective parapet safeguarding the faithful, must have an abundance orientation. The commandments are dictated in an atmosphere of dynamic, energetic, living promise and blessing, For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land . . . The Word defines a proper world view, lengthens lists of possibilities, turns our eyes upward. We ought to allow little time for dour, doubt, or room for defeat.　 God’s Word is not a handbook for religious consumerism, but it is eternal assurance of God’s loving provision culminating in Jesus!　

　

Yesterday Pat tuned our TV to a "Christian" channel. The lead interviewee was a person of intense political passion, outspoken master of divisive rhetoric, and member of a cult. But, people meeting in a supposed Christian assembly applauded, worshiped and　　 affirmed both rhetoric and massive theological error. I became nearly irate, "vexed in my spirit" is a better term, because of the universal lack of Spiritual discernment. The lead celebrity whom I described said, "We invited Jesus, but He was busy and couldn’t make it!" God’s Word assures us otherwise. Hymns sung to affirm His character state the contrary!

　

This morning I’ll sing Isaac Watts’ poem:

I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at God’s command, and all the stars obey.

　

I sing the goodness of the Lord, who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures through the Word, and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky.

　

There’s not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be, Thou, God art present there.

　

God’s Word established His purposes and intentions to be experienced as living, enthusiastic, vibrant, and applicable. Parents, grandparents, pastors, elders, and the whole church ought to be immersed in the all-important task of building a strong parapet wall whose material is God’s Word. The wall of protection will keep another generation from falling into the silliness of things that feel good but in fact are sub-Christian.