The Lutheran Hour
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"God’s Word: The Power of God for Life"
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Text: Isaiah 55:10-11
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Grace, and mercy, and peace be to you in the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ, Amen.
There is a word for us today! It is a word that gives direction, that has ethical boundaries, that disciplines and corrects, that judges and forgives, that empowers and blesses. It is a Word that refreshes us and restores us as only the Word can. There is a Word, the Word of God, the Scriptures, the Bible!
But we often take to heart other words, don’t we?
Has anyone ever said to you, “May I have a word with you?” How does that sentence grab you when spoken to you? If you are a student, how does that make you feel when the teacher says, “May I have a word with you,” in front of the whole class? Or, if you are a husband, or a wife, and your spouse says that at dinner time, what do you think is coming after that? Or, what does the question mean when your boss says that to you right before quitting time “May I have a word with you”, what now? When someone speaks that way to us, it often sends shivers down our spine. It is amazing to me, the negative, fear-causing power of mere human words.
And that negativity may not be the speaker’s fault alone. Very often as sinful people, we fear the worst of those words, not the best. When people in authority over us say those words, we tend to believe that whatever they’re going to say, it must be true, even if it is unjustly critical. Our lack of self-esteem or our deep-rooted, self doubt, the residuals of previously harsh words, often leave a person wide open for a critical word from another.
But, sinful human beings, more often intentionally, negatively use the power of their words, not to bless, or not to encourage. We often use the power of human words to put people in their place, or to make sure that a person really knows who’s in charge, protecting our position or status at all costs. Human words work, but they often work destructively in the lives of those around us.
Psychologists tell us of this power when they say that it takes 7 to 10 positive words to overcome 1 negative, biting word. But I think that it is even worse. There are times when no human words or no human actions can overcome a destructive word that has taken deep root in our hearts. I’ve just recently heard a Jewish parable that illustrates the destructive power of a misused word.
A young man came to visit his Rabbi one day. He came to confess. He entered the Rabbi’s office and said, “I have come by to visit you today because I have wronged you and I need your forgiveness. I have spoken ill of you, besmirched your reputation in the neighborhood, broken God’s command that says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” and I’m here to ask for your forgiveness. Will you forgive me?”
The Rabbi thought for a moment and then said, “I am glad that you have come. I shall forgive you, but you must do something for me first.”
“Please, tell me what I should do,” the man said, “I wish to receive your forgiveness.” The Rabbi continued, “First go and buy me two large feather-filled pillows and bring them to me.”
The young man did bring them to the Rabbi and said, “Here they are, now may I have your forgiveness?”
“One more thing, now take this knife and cut a slit down the center of each pillow and go outside and shake all the feathers out. And then bring the empty cases back to me.”
The young man did this, he shook the feathers out in the wind, and then he brought the pillow cases back. “Now may I have your pardon?”
“One final thing, take these empty pillow cases, go outside and retrieve the feathers, stuff them back in and bring them to me, and then you shall have my forgiveness for the misspoken words that you have let out against my name.”
Sinful words are not so easily retrieved are they? Our words do have power, but as sinful people, even our best words often fail to bless, fail to encourage as they should.We need a Word today, one that speaks the truth, yes, calling us to repent of our sin, but in love. We need a Word today that can overcome the sinful, biting words of others that often drive us to despair, to self-doubt. We need a Word today. One that refreshes, that renews our very hearts and souls in the arid, parched land of the world in which we live. We need a Word today from God and we have that Word.
He says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so is my word that goes out from my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which it is sent.”
Our text for today was first written to the ancient people of Israel. They were a people who had been given God’s word of Grace for the very purpose of proclaiming that word to the nations. But they had taken this word for granted; they had treated this word with contempt, even rebellion. The prophet Isaiah calls them to repentance and to a renewed faith in the God of the Scriptures Who created and redeemed them, just as He calls us to repentance and faith today through that very same Word.
God’s Word works. It calls us to life and salvation when it first calls us to repentance. When it says that some things are right and others wrong, and that God Himself will hold all things accountable to Himself as this world’s Judge, when we realize our need for God’s forgiveness, that’s God’s Word at work. Such an authoritative Word from God does not call us to sorrow and repentance to humiliate, or to harm us, but to turn us around from our self-centered, self-defeating lives to the life that God Himself has for us in Jesus Christ.
When the Ten Commandments are taken seriously, and our efforts to follow them fail so miserably, we begin to see how parched and arid our lives are deep in our spirit. When we begin to try to follow God’s commands in thought, and word, and deed, everywhere, at every time, we begin to see how inept even our best efforts are. Even there, we are in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy.
Remember Jesus’ words in that famous “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew chapter 5. There, even Jesus seems to be piling on when He says authoritatively, “You must be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” He also says, “You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength.” At that moment, we feel like the man trying to retrieve the feathers of the pillow already blowing in the wind’s every direction, seeking to put right what is already irretrievably wrong.
At that moment, though, of our spiritual helplessness, it is God’s Word at work, through His Law, His commands, not merely to cause us to despair of our best efforts. No, it’s to lead us ultimately to the good news of Jesus Christ. His Word ultimately is calling us to be refreshed, restored, and reconciled in Him, in His good news of grace.
“So is my word,” says the Lord, “that goes out from my mouth: it will return to me not empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
The Word of God not only works to bring repentance and sorrow for sin, it ultimately works to bring life and salvation to this broken world, to our very lives. Here too, the Word works as God desires. The Word of God, the very words of the Bible, literally deliver the things of God, it is full of His life and salvation. There is so much more that needs to be said about God’s Word than what we can say in this message today. But hear this, if you hear nothing else today, the very Word of God that was spoken to create the universe that we know and live in, the very Word of God that made it rain 40 days and 40 nights in the judgment of the flood in Noah’s day, the very Word of God that called Israel out of Egypt’s bondage into the freedom of living in God’s grace, that Word ultimately became flesh, lived our life in our place, suffered our punishment on the cross, and rose again so that we might live forever in Him. Jesus Christ is God’s Word in action, God Himself is the Author and the Creator of the words of the Scripture to refresh and renew all who hear and trust in that Word today.
God’s Word reminds us, then, not only of how He feels about us as He redeems His people, it also recounts the many ways that God has acted on our behalf. For Isaiah, God’s Word and work are inseparable. What He says, He does. And what He does, He says. The Scripture is more than words of divine wisdom; it is also a record of God’s divine, saving work on behalf of us all.
When you hear the proclamation of this word, you see the saving actions of God Himself, for you. You see Him establishing His promise of grace already in the Garden of Eden. You see Him judging to save, serving to heal, and forgive. When you see God in action finally in and through the Person and work of Jesus Christ, the question calls, what more could God do to show you how much He loves you and desires your salvation.
Author and speaker Brennan Manning has an amazing story about how he got the name Brennan. When he was growing up, his best friend was Ray. The two of them did everything together: bought a car together as teenagers, double-dated together, went to school together, and so forth. They even enlisted in the Army together, went to boot camp together, and fought on the frontlines together. One night while sitting in a foxhole, Brennan was reminiscing about the old days in Brooklyn while Ray listened and ate a chocolate bar. Suddenly a live grenade came into the foxhole. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, and dropped his chocolate bar, and threw himself on that live grenade. It exploded, killing Ray, but Brennan’s life was spared.
When Brennan became a priest, he was instructed to take on the name of a saint. He thought of his friend, Ray Brennan and so he took on the name Brennan. Years later he went to visit Ray’s mother in Brooklyn. They sat up late one night having tea when Brennan asked her, “Do you think Ray loved me?” Mrs. Brennan got off the couch, shook her finger in front of Brennan’s face, and shouted, “What more could he have done for you?” Brennan said that at that moment he experienced an epiphany. He imagined himself standing before the cross of Jesus wondering, does God really love me? And Jesus’ mother Mary pointing to her Son, saying, “What more could He have done for you?”
No more could have been done for you than what Jesus did for you on the cross, enduring your eternal punishment because He loves you. No more could be said to you than “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” It is He Who speaks through Scriptures’ words; it is He who comes to you with words that refresh like the summer rains.
This incarnate, Christmas-born, Easter-victorious Word comes to you in the words of His Scripture, words that bring eternal bread to the eater and the seeds of His life to the one who receives this Word in faith. That refreshment and restoration is available to all who believe these words.
Isaiah makes this clear earlier in the chapter when he shares God’s invitation, saying, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine, and milk without money and price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, (says the Lord)…. Incline your ear and come to me, hear, that your soul may live!!”
Isaiah reminds us of the power of God’s Word to reach into the innermost parts of our being, to not only call us to repentance, but to call us to life and salvation in Him alone. There is no one outside of that reach. There is no one beyond the scope of that life-giving Word.
I was reminded of this truth clearly in our work in New York City back in the late 1990s. There was a moment when our church saw clearly the unique power of God’s refreshing Word. New York is a tough place. People speak straight; they say what they mean, well, most of the time. Our church, Church for All Nations, decided to find a way to bless the community where we served by setting up a prayer station on the corner of 57th and 9th in Manhattan. Now our work was simple. We would set up a booth, stock it with pamphlets about God’s grace and our ministry in and for the city, be willing prayer partners with those who stopped by for prayer, but we did one more thing, for those who wished neither prayer nor pamphlet, we had cold bottles of water just for their refreshment. Now on a hot New York City summer day, no one, I mean no one, turns down a free bottle of cold water. So, in our preparations, we thought we’d give out all the water (so we stocked a lot), some of the pamphlets and have a few people stay for prayer. What do you think happened? Well, we gave away all of the pamphlets, had a line of people stop for prayer, and still had plenty of water left at the end of the day, with people often saying, “Hey, thanks for the prayer and go ahead and give that water to someone in need.” They took God’s Living Water first, even in the midst of their real, physical thirst.
We need a living, refreshing, forgiving, empowering Word today, and we have it in the Word of God made Flesh, Jesus Christ, and the Words of His Holy Scriptures.
Samuel Chadwick said it this way: “I have guided my life by the Bible for more than sixty years. I tell you there is no book like it. It is a miracle of literature, a perennial spring of wisdom, a wonder of surprises, a revelation of mystery, an infallible guide of conduct, an unspeakable source of comfort. Pay no attention to the people who discredit it, for I tell you that they speak without knowledge. It is the Word of God itself. Study it according to its own direction. Live by its principles. Believe its message. Follow its precepts. No man is uneducated who knows the Bible, and no one is wise who is ignorant of its teachings.”
But incredibly today, the prophet Isaiah says even more. God’s Word not only grants wisdom, education, morality, and ethics, it literally saves, refreshes, and restores those who read and receive it. It quenches parched, repentant souls with a living water from God Himself. This Word might first make you sense your thirst, but it does that to quench it as only it can.
We need this Word, to overcome the damage of our own words, the litanies of our own sins. We need God’s Word and we have it. Power for our very life now and forever. Are you thirsty now? Then drink. The Water is free, the refreshment is real. This is God’s purpose for His Word for you.
For Jesus Himself says in John 4 “Everyone who drinks water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
News articles might inform us, poetry might enrapture us, novels might inspire us, but only God’s life-giving, life-refreshing, life-forgiving Word can transform us. So hear this Word, receive this Word, believe this Word, and share this Word, for that is what the Scriptures are, God’s Word, the very power for your life and for your salvation, now and forever. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for July 10, 2011
Topic: The Power of Faith and Physical HealingANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Gregory Seltz responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer and today a listener writes, “Dear Pastor, I’m 81 years old with severe health problems. I have panic attacks that only tranquilizers can help me. I’m concerned I can’t control these things with prayer and faith. Should I be concerned?”
It sounds like our listener is afraid, maybe, that her faith isn’t strong enough. How would God’s Word speak to this?
SELTZ: Mark, first, we’ve got to say to our listener that we’re sorry that she having severe health problems. Even strong believers have struggles with physical maladies this side of heaven.
ANNOUNCER: You wonder where people get this idea that the strength of their faith is directly related to their physical well being.
SELTZ: Exactly, especially when Jesus tells us that “in this world you will have trouble, but fear not, I have overcome the world.”
ANNOUNCER: And, think about it, even someone with a faith as strong as Saint Paul, he still had physical problems. He had problems that plagued him all his life.
SELTZ: He sure did. In fact, we need to remember that he was told “God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.” And no one would accuse Paul of having weak faith.
ANNOUNCER: So can we provide any physical comfort for our listener?
SELTZ: I think we sure can. First, we can provide real healing for her conscience, for her emotional and spiritual well being. It seems that she feels guilty as if her struggles are related to her lack of faith. She needs to remember that Jesus’ care for her is 100 percent no matter what particular struggles she’s having now.
ANNOUNCER: In this sense her faith in Jesus should actually be a source of comfort for her in her afflictions and not cause her to doubt.
SELTZ: Right. You see, when people think that their faith is somehow the reason why God does or does not act on their behalf, they actually miss faith’s comforting, encouraging power. Sadly, when Christians falsely teach that “faith is the reason that God blesses,” they actually can cause spiritual, even physical, anxiety rather than healing.
ANNOUNCER: All right then. How might her faith, properly understood, be more of a comfort to her?
SELTZ: Well, like we’ve said already, the fact that Jesus cares for her 100 percent because of Who He is and what He has done, in spite of her circumstances, that alone can provide peace of mind. And, boy, that sure can help with anxiety, too.
ANNOUNCER: And surely faith in God can give comfort in other ways as well.
SELTZ: Yeah, I agree, with that confidence in God’s care knowing that it’s not dependent on her specific circumstances; our listener can actually celebrate the fact that some medicines are part of God’s blessing for her healing and for her peace of mind. She doesn’t have to feel guilty that God can answer her prayer that way as well.
ANNOUNCER: Anything more you could say?
SELTZ: Oh, I think there actually is. In fact, when people think about and talk about anxiety, that is generally more than a physical problem. There may be some concerns that our listener has that cause her to worry, to be afraid. If she could talk through those with her pastor, or a Christian counselor, she might also find out there too that God has taken on those burdens for her. So, faith would even be a blessing there for her too.
ANNOUNCER: So, you’re saying that our listener doesn’t need to face this alone, she might need to give herself permission to see how God is answering her prayer not just in the strength of her faith, but in the physical blessings of her doctors, the spiritual counsel pastor could give, or the emotional support she receives from her friends.
SELTZ: Yeah, I think you’re right. And all of her concerns need to be understood in God’s promise that because of His death and resurrection, the day is coming when all of her ills and sufferings will be totally healed. Sometimes I’m not sure why God allows certain things to happen in our lives at a particular moment, but resurrection and healing are a believer’s future no matter what. In dealing with our struggles through faith, we might actually be a blessing to others with similar struggles, too.
ANNOUNCER: We wish our listener well and pray for God’s gracious healing for her.
SELTZ: And we pray her faith sustain her and not cause her anxiety because Jesus loves her very much. She can be very confident of that.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Seltz, even that perspective can be the beginning of healing. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Preserve Your Word, O Savior” performed by the Kammerchor. Used by permission.
“Before You, Lord, We Bow” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House/SESAC)