The Blessing of God's Word

By Wyatt Taylor

We live in a remarkable age.  Thanks to the blessings of modern technology, we have nearly instant access to all kinds of information – from breaking world news to the most insignificant sports statistic.  I rely on this so much that it is hard to recall a time when this kind of access wasn’t a part of my life, but really, it has only come about in the last 10-15 years.  How did anyone live in a world before Google?

Jesus’ words in Matthew 13:16-17 remind us that we are blessed in another, more important way.  There was a time, after all, when humans did not have access to the kind of spiritual information we have at our disposal in the pages of scripture today.  Jesus says, “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”  Christ’s disciples, of course, saw the Son of God and heard Him teaching of the fulfillment of the Law in Him.  Jesus reminds them that the prophets and righteous men that came before, many of whom we read about in the Old Testament today, were working with limited information.  In their day, God’s plan had not yet been fully revealed.  Many of the things they prophesied they did not understand.  As we study the Bible today, we can see the arc of God’s plan throughout history: how Christ was prophesied at the beginning, how God worked through His people to bring Him into the world to die for our sins, and how he established His Kingdom.  Christ’s words here remind us that we should not take this for granted, since God’s people have longed for such information throughout time.

Backing up a few verses to Matthew 13:10-15, Jesus is asked by the disciples why he teaches in parables.  In response, Jesus quotes a passage from the prophet Isaiah (Is. 6:9-10), “Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull.  Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”  One of the tragedies of the gospels is that those people who should have received Jesus most readily, the Jewish leaders of the day, were the very ones shouting “Crucify Him!”  How did they mistake the Son of God for a blasphemer?  Jesus tells us here – “the hearts of this people have grown dull.”

It would be an even greater tragedy for those today with such easy access to the word of God to neglect it and be forever lost.  May it never be said of us that our hearts have grown dull to the gospel!  Instead, let us resolve to open God’s word, search it with hearts open to the truth, and in understanding turn to Jesus Christ for the healing that only He can provide.

The Transforming Power of the Word

By Matt Hennecke

The Word of God is an amazing, life changing tool. Consider for a moment the apostle Paul. When we are first introduced to him he is described as “young” (Acts 7:58). His youth may have contributed to what seems to be a certain cockiness. He seems to have been a self assured young man that seemingly “knew it all.”  It’s not unusual for young men (and women too, I guess) to see everything as black and white, right and wrong. Paul (or Saul as he was then called) was certain Christianity – like Christ – had to be eliminated. Acts 9:1-2 reveals Saul was obsessed with threats and murder: Self assured. Cocky. A know-it-all.  And flat out wrong.  As he journeyed to Damascus he had his first dose of humility. A light and a voice cast doubt where before there had been none. For three days he ate and drank nothing. His journey of humility had begun. He was baptized into the very Body that he had sought to destroy. Talk about eating crow.  Imagine the shame and the dawning realization of just how wrong he’d been.  But Paul’s  journey of humility had only begun. His own writings reveal the transformative power of the Word.  The Word – amazing for it first convicts us and then lifts us.  Paul’s transformation – indeed his journey of humility – is seen in his writings. Note the progression: In 1 Corinthians 15:9 written about 56 AD he calls himself the “least of the apostles.”  That was still an elite group of men. The least of twelve is still pretty good company. It would almost be like saying I’m the least of the Super Bowl champion team.  But, then note what he writes five years later in Ephesians 3:8: He says he is “the very least of all saints.”  The circle of comparison has gotten larger – much larger, but is still comprised of a minority. Then two years later he writes: “Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Tim 1:15).  In his own words we learn that Paul has been completely humbled. How did this journey of humility come to be? By exposure to the Word.  By the constant contact with the inspired Word Paul was changed – he was transformed.  Such is the transforming power of the Word. If we will let it, it will change us and transform us so that we will have our high self opinion replaced with total gratitude for Jesus Christ; and thus humbled we will become, as Paul did, vessels of service to our Lord.