Christ Speaking to Us: The Essential Nature of God’s Word
This is an essential catholic and evangelical truth: the Word of God does not speak of something the way, for example, I may speak of something I know or have an opinion about. Scripture is God speaking. When Scripture speaks, we hear the voice of God.
For most of Protestantism Scripture has become a book of rules to be followed, a set of principles to inform how we reshape the world, a set of practical tools to better your life, or a road map to lead you from here to eternity. But that is just plain wrong. Scripture is the voice of God. Scripture is the discourse of God in human words. This Word is powerful and can do what it claims and keep all its promises. This Word has the power to call and gather the Church.
On Sunday morning we often treat the Word of God as if it were nothing more than a book of wise sayings, some of which may be practical enough and pointed enough to make a small difference in the ordinary and mundane of our world. We treat so casually what is essentially the Voice of God who speaks to us and is speaking to us in Scripture.
We act as if the gems of Bible study were the hints or conclusions reached from that study — like a school child reads the encyclopedia for things he or she can use in a paper that is due tomorrow. Bible study is important because it is time with God, it is the conversation in which God is the speaker to us and we who have ears tuned in faith can hear Him speaking. It is not what we learn from Bible study but what we learn in Bible study as a people gather to hear every word and as a people who know that this every word is important.
Nowhere is that more true than in worship — the Word of God predominates not because we have found it useful but because it is Christ speaking to us. In this respect liturgy is the only real context for us to hear Scripture — everything else flows from this assembly and is not in competition with it or can substitute for it.
This is what we need to rediscover – the urgency, the immediacy of God’s voice in our midst. In response to that voice, we come, we listen, we hear, and we grow. The distasteful practice of cell phones and watch alarms going off in worship is a sign that we have not understood that Scripture is God’s voice speaking to us — or surely we would shut those things off. The strange practice of people moving in and out of the Sanctuary as the Scriptures are read and preached is a sign that we do not understand that Scripture is God’s living voice speaking to us or we would find a way to fit our bathroom needs around this holy and momentous conversation in which God is the speaker and initiates the dialog that brings forth faith in us and bestows upon us all the gifts of the cross and empty tomb.
Instead of burying our faces in bulletins to read, we would raise our heads to listen. I am convinced that the reading of Scripture is heard differently than the reading of Scripture from a service folder page. We don’t listen to each other with our heads buried in a booklet. We listen to each other by looking at the point where the voice is coming from and by learning to tune out the distractions so that we might hear what is said. This is the discipline that is so missing on Sunday morning.
All because we think of Scripture as a vehicle that delivers something to us instead of the thing that is delivered — the voice of God speaking grace and mercy, conviction and condemnation, redemption and restoration, death and life… Wisdom!! Attend!!
Source: Pastor Larry Peters
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WOW! What an insight! Thanks for posting this!!
Dear Pastor Peters,
I am an Orthodox catechumen and considering chrismation on Holy Saturday of this year. I’ve got a few questions. Do Lutherans celebrate Lent, and if so, how? Do Lutherans fast? Do Lutherans practice confession, and if so, is it both private and public? Do Lutherans accept the 7 Ecumenical Councils of the Church from the First Century? What do Lutherans believe about the Filioque?
I attended a Lutheran Church for a short while, but I wanted an erudite answer from someone schooled in the Lutheran tradition. I look forward to your response as time permits.
In Christ’s Immeasurable Love,
Darlene
God does not speak as we speak. When He speaks, the universe is formed and takes shape. God’s Word is not a simple form of communication. After all, the Father’s breath is what brought life into Adam and the Son’s breath is what brought the Holy Spirit to the apostles. At the Word of the Lord, mountains are formed, the sea obeys, the deaf can hear, the dead rise, and devils flee in terror.
Our words are a gift that is but a tiny shadow of what is spoken by God. Our words are limited by what already is. We do not create and make things come into existence just by saying so–no matter how much we may wish for such an ability. We may have the power to influence others with our words on an emotional level and the ability to change minds on an intellectual level, but we work on the limited level of a creature.
On the other hand, the Word of the Creator is an awesome and constructive force that kills and makes alive. It does more than merely convey perceptions and opinions as we do… it declares truth, changes chaos into order, and brings good things into existence from nothing! It is a mystical and awesome force that imparts faith and life upon its hearing.
This is why Satan attacks the delivery of the Word at every opportunity by every means at his disposal.
@Darlene
Do Lutherans celebrate Lent, and if so, how? Classicaly Lutherans observe Lent with additional worship services, extra devotional disciplines, almsgiving and acts of charity, some kind of sel-denial, and liturgical chances (the elimination of the alleluia, veiling of the crosses, etc)…HOWEVER Lutherans are a diverse group and there are Lutherans for whom Lent is no different from any other time. I wish I could say there was more consistency here.
Do Lutherans fast? Lutherans do fast but more as an individual discipline and less as a formal discipline as a group… it does depend upon ethnic background to a certain extent. For example, we practice a Wednesday fast except for soup and bread after sundown…
Do Lutherans practice confession, and if so, is it both private and public? Lutherans do practice private confession — I see a number of folks each week… but that majority do not avail themselves of this wonderful gift. The public or general confession as preparation for the Divine Service is generally upheld with some measure of seriousness and solemnity (except among those who offer contemporary worship)…
Do Lutherans accept the 7 Ecumenical Councils of the Church from the First Century? What do Lutherans believe about the Filioque? The Lutheran Confessions quote as much from the fathers as they do from Scripture. For Lutherans the ecumenical councils are very important, especially the creed(s) and Chalcedonian christology. Lutherans are western catholic Christians who accept the Filioque (although there are some Lutherans who regret its inclusion without the consensus of the whole church). Please feel free to email me through my blog (www.PastoralMeanderings.blogspot.com) for more…
This is the difference between Luther’s Meditatio and traditional monastc lexio divina. In lexio the meditator ascends from the text of Scripture to contemplate divinity above and beyond Scripture.In Meditatio God descends to us and speaks to us through the text of Scripture. There is no going beyond the text.