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The Commentary

The Word that wins

Not long ago I had a conversation with a man who works for the Gideons, the organisation which puts Bibles in hotel rooms, etc.

He told me that recently he was driving in the Midlands towards Leicester when he zoomed by a young man with a big haversack and a cross on his back walking by the side of the carriageway. On the cross the words were written for all to see, ‘Jesus is Life’. Being a Christian and involved in the Lord’s work himself, he was intrigued. So further down the road he found a place to turn the car around and drove back. He was able to stop and talk to this guy. What was his story?

His name was John and he was from Liverpool. Through drugs and the related lifestyle of the habit he had spent time in prison. He had fallen out with his family and had cut nearly all ties with them. But when his grandma died he went back for her funeral. In her old home he had found her Bible and had begun to read it. ‘And what I read there has completely changed my life’, he said. ‘It is the best news in the world. So now I feel that God wants me to carry this cross around the country and just take whatever opportunities I get to speak to people about Jesus.’

It is through the message of Scripture that people get saved and the kingdom of God advances.

Double-edged sword

The only offensive piece of armour the Christian soldier has in the spiritual battle is ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’ (Ephesians 6.17). By ‘the word of God’ is meant the Scriptures. This is clear to us because in his desert conflict with Satan himself, the Lord Jesus always thrust the devil back by answering from Scripture, ‘It is written…’ (Matthew 4.4,7,10). This is the double-edged sword we cannot do without (Hebrews 4.12).

But whenever the church drifts from the Bible and proclaiming Scripture truth, it is in effect throwing away its sword. A church without Scripture cannot expect to get anywhere.

How we co-operate

With a big smile on its face a hostile world offers us an amnesty if only we will distance ourselves from the Word.

And, sadly, the church seems to be co-operating in all kinds of ways. First, the co-operation is academic. The Scriptures speak of themselves as the perfect word of God, without error (Psalm 12.6). But there are plenty of PhDs who know better and undermine the Bible — or at least tell ordinary Christians that they cannot possibly understand Scripture without a doctorate in ancient languages and culture. Second, there is the co-operation of the mystic. I have no trouble with sensible charismatics who check the Spirit’s leadings by Scripture. But others claim for themselves an authority beyond the Bible, and so play down God’s word. Then, of course, there is the danger of music. I absolutely love much of the new music in the churches. But many church services are becoming an emotion driven rock concert rather than centring on the renewing of the mind through understanding Scripture. And the frantic simply rush through life with no time to read Scripture. Thus the Bible gets sidelined. But, as John’s story illustrates, it is the Bible people need.

And bear in mind that as the Government’s anti-religious conscience laws come into force there will be more pressure to downplay the Bible. ‘Why not just raise a new generation of church youngsters who believe in a kind of therapeutic deism without that book?’

John Benton