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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 6 |
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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 6 |
Robert Johnson
“And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them” (Mark 2:1-2 NKJV). In Luke’s account of this event, we are told that both Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses were present in this home to hear Jesus speak. They were curious about what they had heard about Him and wanted to hear Jesus for themselves. How did Jesus approach such a gathering of both the religious elite and the average people of His day and time? He spoke the Word to them, because no matter the difference in these groups, whether viewed as common or special, wealthy or poor, educated or not, they had a mutual need that only the Word of God could resolve.
This is an important issue for our day and age. Some would tell us we need a different message to fit the various groups to whom we reach out. Certain teachings, we’re told, should be altered or abandoned, and other philosophies ought to be incorporated to reach the times in which we live, as well as the sensibilities of the modern world. The message of the Gospel needs revision to be relevant for today. Like the false teachers among the Galatian Christians in the first century, there are those wanting a “different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).
Isn’t such a view, though, ultimately an accusation against God? Is not the Creator of Heaven and of the Earth, and all therein, capable of giving us His message in a way that is understandable and relevant to every age? The changing nature of creation does not affect the unchangeableness of God’s Word. I understand the presentation of that message should be relevant to the times in which one lives, but the message itself remains true and consistent. “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:23-25).
There were those who clamored for change in the time of Paul. He warned Timothy, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). How was Timothy to respond to this? Was he to change the message to accommodate different desires in different times? No! “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). God is omniscient, and only by staying in His Word will we be genuine Christians, having assurance of who we are, how we are to live and where we are going. Being all knowing, God was able to communicate His will to humanity, irrespective of the age in which people may live.
Studies suggest the number of those spending time in God’s Word, the Bible, is decreasing as time goes by. Many people are making up what they think being a Christians means, deciding based on their desires how a Christian should live. How can one be a genuine Christian without being grounded in God’s Word, which gives us the pattern for becoming and living as Christians? Should not we who insist that we have the Truth – the Gospel – the Word – be diligent in spending time reading it, learning it and living it? Lord willing, we can begin reading from God’s Word each day starting now and throughout a lifetime.
I have known some who say things such as, “My God doesn’t object to this practice,” “My God doesn’t care about that kind of language” or “My God lets me believe and do whatever I want.” We need to make sure our God is the God of Scripture and that His Word is what guides us in what we believe, in what we say and in what we do. If God’s Word was Jesus’ focus, shouldn’t it be our focus, too?
