December 2009 word cloud

Word and wordlets

Christmas music is ubiquitous this month: on TV and radio, in the malls and grocery stores, the mp3 player plugged into your head, and jangling from the brightly-blinking animated zoo in the neighbors’ front yard. We’ll hear a lot about sleigh rides and bells (even if we live in a Mediterranean or desert climate—or south of the equator), chestnuts roasting, having a merry little Christmas, Santa Claus, and the legend of a drummer boy present at the nativity. At church, surely we’ll sing Joy to the World, Silent Night, and O Come All Ye Faithful.

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;

Jesus, to Thee be glory given;

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

Why is Jesus characterized as The Word? Dictionaries define “word” as

the smallest unit of language,

a conversation,

communication,

news,

an expression or authoritative utterance,

a promise,

a proverb, and

a hypostasis for divine wisdom.

In Latin, “word” doesn’t mean a motionless noun, but verbum. Verbs act and move.

In Greek, logos means word, thought, principle, or speech.

In the gospel of John, first chapter, we read the soaring song of salvation: that in the beginning-before-the-beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men… 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. John 1:1-5, 14 NIV.

That’s certainly the most famous reference to Jesus as the Word. But there are many more references to both spoken word and written word in both Testaments. Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV says, In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Jesus is not only the Word of God, but He is the Author of our salvation. (Hebrews 2:10.)

In Revelation 3:12 NIV, the Author tells His believers: I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

In Jeremiah 31:33-34, the Lord declares that the old covenant, the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), has been broken, but He will create a new covenant: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

That is what Jesus, the Word and the Author of salvation, did to our wickedness: forgive and forget. It’s not stored in a computer chip or written on paper in a giant book. We are written in the Book of Life, Jesus Himself. Jesus is life. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. John 6:63 MSG.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they were a letter, written on his heart of love, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV.

We are epistles written from God’s heart, and dare I say, written on God’s heart. Ah! Not only is our Lord “The Word,” but because we are His children through creation and adoption, we are also words—maybe “wordlets” (to coin a word). He has written His words and His will upon our living hearts, and He dwells within us.

What an incomprehensibly gigantic gift is wrapped up in the small collection of letters that we read as “Word.”

As I read the story of Jesus’ birth this season, I will meditate on each of the secular definitions of “Word.” In them there is much to learn of our sacred Word.

…..In the beginning was a small unit of language (from God to His children).

…..In the beginning was a conversation.

…..In the beginning was communication.

…..In the beginning was an authoritative utterance.

…..In the beginning was a promise.

…..In the beginning was a verb.

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

November 2009 word cloud

Built upon the rock

What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. Romans 1:19 NIV

After receiving my university degree in another state, I moved back to my family’s church. My comments during the Bible study were the “correct” answers I’d learned in 16 years of Christian school. But the young adults teacher, Steve, saw the world, the Bible, and God very differently. I was frustrated that my memorized answers were shot down with a staccato “No,” but the simple answers offered by those less-educated but more spiritually mature than I were accepted with “Yes! That’s it exactly!”

Instead of accepting every teaching at face value or having it run through the “acceptability filter” of a seminary committee or denominational-doctrines list, Steve persisted in making us look for the gospel in every Bible verse we studied. In time, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, and I found His gracious salvation. Praise God for Steve’s role in that time of my life—and in all my study since!

California is famous for its landslides and unstable soil, particularly during the rainy season. Buildings buckle and wash away, because they’re founded upon sandy soil, not anchored on solid rock. In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus spoke of the wise and foolish builders, investing in the places where they kept their temporal treasures.

²⁴ Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.

He said that whoever puts His words into practice is the wise one who built upon the solid rock.

Jesus’ story is not about building codes, architecture, or geology—it’s about the primacy of His words. “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” Matthew 7:28, 29 NIV

The religious leaders of that time quoted from commentaries, doctrinal theories, and various schools of thought. They let others think for them. But Jesus, the very Word of God, quoted Scripture and spoke with divine authority. The lesson is that we seek first the words of Jesus and how they apply to our lives. Security and salvation are not built on the sandy interpretation or commentary of fallible humans, but upon the solid, clear words of Jesus Christ.

That’s all anyone needs.

Of Cheetos and Salvation

He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. Romans 3:24 MSG

I accepted the gift of salvation at age 27. I was raised in a Christian home and in Christian schools, where salvation by faith was taught, but we were simultaneously told in 16th-century English to “be perfect as God is perfect.” (We didn’t understand that the definition of perfection is completeness and maturity, not “without fault.”) Perfection for humans is unattainable, so salvation must also be unattainable: what was the point in trying, shrugged much of my generation.

I can perfectly observe my prescribed diet and exercise for 50 minutes daily, but not lose a pound in three weeks. After all the hard work and no visible reward, there is severe temptation to binge on high-carb, high-fat, high-sodium Cheetos! (Eating Cheetos isn’t sinful, but play along…)

Righteousness might be explained in this way: God declares us to be in right relationship to Himself. He just speaks it, as at creation, when He spoke everything into existence. He sees only His beloved and perfect (in behavior and attitude, as well as full and complete) Son Jesus, whose greatest desire is to save me. Me! Caught orange-handed with Cheetos dust, with the evidence of sin all over me! God sees my Substitute, who stands protectively between me and the glory and perfection that could vaporize me. And, as at creation, God speaks the word, “Good.” And because Creator God says it is so—it can only be so!

Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners…and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. Romans 3:23, 24 MSG.

The concept of salvation is profound and complex. And it’s so simple that a little child gets it. Let’s just ask God to say the Word: “Jesus.” He wants to! He loves you and is yearning to walk with you. Let Him dust off the crumbs and look past your outward appearance, to see only the perfect creation that He intends you to be.