THE POWER OF THE WORD

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him

shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who

comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

                                                                     Matthew 21:9

Three and half years of ministry are now culminating in a baptism of fire.

Jesus is going to suffer and he is going to die.

The Father knows why.

The angels know why.

The Lamb of God is laying down his life for the sins of the world.

But from a human point of view,

what was it that aroused such opposition to Jesus?

Such blistering hatred coming from the very men, who all their lives,

thought they were looking for the Messiah?

They were offended by many things that Jesus did.

        He broke the Sabbath.

        He ignored the traditions.

        He performed signs that got the masses all worked up.

Yet, the thing that offended them most was not what Jesus did,

        but what he said.

His word.

A word poured out of this man’s mouth that set the religious leader’s on edge.

“You have heard that it was said to the men of

 old, ‘You shall not kill’;…But I say to you that

 every one who is angry with his brother shall be

 liable to judgment…”               Matthew 5:21

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not

 commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one

 who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed

 adultery with her in his heart.”

 Matthew 5:27-28

“Every one then who hears  these words of mine

 and does them will be like a wise man who built

 his house upon a rock…”

 Matthew 7:24

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words

 will not pass away.”

 Luke 21:33

“It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no

 avail; the words that I have spoken to you they

 are Spirit and they are life.”

 John 6:63

Those words of Jesus drove the Scribes, and

                                     the Pharisees, and

                                     the Priests, and

                                     the Levites

-- right up the wall because they were not disposed to listen to a word

straight from the heart of the Living God.

Times have not changed.

When the Eternal Word, which was incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth,

and is still heard wherever the Spirit of God is in charge of a church,

                                                 or a man,

                                                 or a woman;

when that Word is spoken today, the Scribes, and the Pharisees, and

the Priests, and the Levites, of this present hour, still get all shook up

and do anything they can to silence it.

But they always fail.

Because this Jesus, who rose from the dead never to die again,

   watches over his word to perform it.

And wherever that Word is received by a tender heart,

                   God’s life flows in forgiveness and transforms.

Centuries before he was born into this world,

        the Spirit of the Messiah had this to say about the Word,

        not only on the lips of Jesus of Nazareth,

        but on the lips of every disciple of Jesus who walks with him;

        “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those

         who are taught, that I may know how to sustain

          with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning

         he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those

         who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear,

         and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward.”

                                                              Isaiah 50:4-5

This is a description of Jesus’ ministry.

He knows how to sustain with a word him that is weary.

With a word that encourages,

                         heals,

                         wakens,

                         calls to repentance,

                         forgives.

And that same Word

which brings people from darkness to light,

                                      from the power of satan to God,

also warns the arrogant of the approaching day of accounting.

But there’s more:

Those of us who have committed ourselves

to following Jesus,

to walking in the light he gives us,

to humbling ourselves before that Word and submitting to it,

are meant to be indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord to such an extent that His

prophecy becomes ours -- so that we too can say;

        “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those

         who are taught, that I may know how to sustain

         with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning

         he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those

         who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear,

         and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward.”

         Isaiah 50: 4-5

Imagine the transformation if we were to allow the Spirit of God to make

these verses from Isaiah 50 actual in our daily lives!

So that each of us truly has a tongue that knows how to sustain with a word

him that is weary,

            her that is weary.

Why else did Jesus lay down his life on the Cross?

Why else do we join ourselves to his passion, as we eat the bread and drink

the wine, if not to become extensions of his redemptive power in this world

as his word flows from our tongues?

Oh, but there is a part of this miracle which depends on us.

“Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my

 ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord

 God has opened my ear, and I was not

 rebellious, I turned not backward.” Isaiah 50:5

How is God going to waken my ear morning by morning

     unless I give him my ear morning by morning?

Unless I put myself in a position to hear something first from God?

There is an assumption held in most of our mainline churches that all

“the baptized people of God” are set for life.

They’ve been baptized.

They come to church.

They’re decent folks.

What more do you want?

But it’s not quite that “cut and dried”.

Most of us, for instance, have never given God a chance to “waken our ear that we may hear as those who have been taught to sustain with a word him who is weary”.

There has to be some cooperation on our part.

Some action -- some discipline.

        “And in the morning, a great while before day,

         he rose and went out to a lonely place, and

         there he prayed.”                  Mark 1:35

What was Jesus doing praying in that lonely place?

He was letting the Father waken his ear.

He was receiving from the Father the “tongue of those who are taught so

that he might know how to sustain with a word him that is weary”.

        “The next day, as they were on their journey and

 coming near the city, Peter went up on the housetop

 to pray, about the sixth hour.” Acts 10:9

What was Peter doing up on that housetop at noon? Praying.

Why isn’t he out there preaching?

He’s getting an ear job from God so he can hear.

He’s receiving “the tongue of those who are taught so that he can

sustain with a word” the household of a Gentile he was about to meet

for the first time.

This is meant to be normal activity

not only for the Lord when he was here in flesh and blood,

not only for Peter,

but for you and me.

If we are going to have anything good to offer the people who stumble into

our lives with broken hearts and wounded souls, we are going to have to

learn to discipline ourselves to give God a chance to open our ears and

quicken our tongues

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It’s not enough to constantly reassure “the baptized people of God” that

everything’s okay!

Yes -- Jesus died for your sins.

Yes -- God has adopted you into the realm of grace.

God has made you a branch on the supernatural vine

which is his Risen Son.

But if the branch on the vine doesn’t produce anything, even if it is one of

“the baptized people of God”, Jesus says, “the branch is cast forth as a

branch and withers”.

And for the branch to produce fruit all it has to do is abide in the vine.

It has to discipline itself to give its ear and its heart to the Lord,

        morning by morning,

        day by day.

So that he can waken you to hear.

So that he can give you “the tongue of those who are taught, that you may

know how to sustain with a word him that is weary”.

When we open our hearts to him, Jesus visits us with life.

But if that’s the end of the it,

      if nothing holy and redemptive begins to flow

                from our lives, and our tongues,

something is wrong.

Each one of us is meant to have “the tongue of one who is taught,

that we might know how to sustain with a word him who is weary”.

Of course, there is a price!

If The Living Word aroused such opposition and anger

when it flowed from Jesus’ lips that they nailed him to a cross, why

wouldn’t it arouse opposition and anger when it flows from our lips.

They won’t give us awards for speaking that Word.

 People will be offended.

But that Word coming from us will also heal.

   It will redeem.

The greater the opposition, the greater the power.

“Remember the word that I said to you, ’A servant

 is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted

 me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word,

 they will keep yours also.” John 15:20

God grant;