Yesterday morning, I received a complimentary email from one of our readers, who’s also a friend of mine, regarding our ministry with this blog.
In addition to her kind words, she shared that reading our posts helped her reflect on her life and the areas she needed to work on. Furthermore, she spoke of how it strengthened her spiritually.
While it’s encouraging to know that our efforts can encourage reflection and spiritual growth, the credit ultimately belongs to God’s Word. Any good accomplished through this ministry is a testimony to His power, not ours.
In today’s passage, the apostle Paul addressed the attitude of the Thessalonian brethren with this wonderful observation:
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thess. 2:13)
This text speaks to our attitude toward the Word. Whether we’re listening to a preacher, reading an article or blog posts, or simply reading the text ourselves, our attitude is important.
Note these three important points:
#1 We must receive the Word.
Receive means to welcome. To take to oneself. To receive something transmitted. To receive with the mind. To accept.
This means listening with the head as well as the heart. To have a receptive attitude. To possess a good and honest heart.
In the first gospel sermon on Pentecost, the bible says, “They gladly received the word.”
When you hear a sermon, is your mind receptive to the Word? Or is it an exercise in critiquing the preacher? Do we enter a Bible class with an open heart to welcome what God says, or does it become a forum for simply sharing personal opinions?
#2 We must accept God’s Word as Truth.
Receiving the Word speaks to our willingness to hear it. Accepting the Word speaks to our conviction that it is true.
Several years ago, a lady commented on an article I wrote based on Ephesians 5:22-33 about the family and the headship of the husband, saying, “I don’t agree. That’s just Paul’s opinion.” When I further questioned her statement, she opined, “Well, Paul was anti-woman!”
What Paul wrote was inspired by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 3:3–5), whom Jesus sent to guide the apostles into all truth (Jn. 16:13). Furthermore, when we receive the word and work of Jesus, we’re receiving the will of the Father. The Savior expressed it clearly and forcefully when he said:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (Jn. 13:20).
When preachers, pastors, and Bible teachers faithfully explain and correctly apply Scripture, the authority rests not in their opinions but in the Word of God.” And as Jesus pronounced in his prayer in John 17:17, “Your Word is Truth.”
#3 We must allow the Word to Work in us.
What a compliment Paul paid to the Thessalonians when he wrote that Word “effectively works in you who believe.”
The Word is powerful in itself, but its transforming work is experienced by those who trust it enough to obey it.
What good does a sermon do if it doesn’t work in us? And on us! Bible study should affect our lives to produce the desired result.
Many of you know my wife, Norma Jean, has Parkinson’s Disease. She takes medicine five times a day. I constantly pray that the medicine will be efficacious. In other words, it will produce the intended result and accomplish what she needs in dealing with P. D.–making her life better.
When God’s word is efficacious, it produces a Divine result. Hearts are touched. Attitudes are altered. Thinking is redirected. And lives are changed.
This new life in Christ can only come when we’re receptive to the Word, accept it as a Divine, absolute Truth, and examine ourselves so we can apply it to our lives.
I am humbled that this ministry can serve as a means to facilitate one’s study, learning, and spiritual growth. However, it’s always important to remember that it is ultimately God’s Truth that cuts the heart, convicts the conscience, and creates a new and better life in Christ Jesus.
Ultimately, our aim in Bible study is succinctly stated by James Merritt: “The primary purpose of reading the Bible is not to know the Bible but to know God.”
The question is not merely whether we have heard God’s Word, but whether we have welcomed it, accepted it as truth, and allowed it to accomplish its work within us.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 