The Word of God - “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).
Jesus Christ is defined as the Word, he is the “logos”. The scriptures are also referred to as the word of God. They provide direction for our lives, and guide us in living righteously and in service and love for one another. Jesus is the perfect depiction of fulfilling God’s will. His life, alongside study of the scripture is intertwined in making sure we stay true to God’s word. Jesus tells us his commands: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’.. [and] ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22: 37-40). As believers today we must hold fast to his commands and act from them. Scripture (God’s written word) tells us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22). To stay true to God’s word is not only to believe, or hear the message, but to obey, to walk in the way (Jesus tells us that he is the Way! Just as he is the Word, therefore looking at his life and seeking to follow in his footsteps will give us a lamp for our feet and a light for our path (Psalm 119:105)). The Bible tells us that we must apply and follow in obedience in God’s word. If there is an opportunity somewhere to help, to bring joy or peace, and to be Christ’s representatives on Earth, we have a responsibility to do so. We are called to be as lights in the world! This doesn’t mean we believe we earn our salvation through works, however. Our salvation is only possible through the ransom price paid by Jesus. As the apostle Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephsians 2:8-10) However, as a natural result of faith, it is inevitable that having received and felt the love of God truly, that acts of faith follow, and that we “bear fruit” - “I [Jesus] am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). Therefore, if we allow the Word of God to abide in us, through study, prayer, discussion, and action, it becomes clear that to stay true to God’s word means walking in the way he has prepared, and recognizing the fruit of the Spirit, such as joy, peace, patience (Galatians 5:22-23), growing in our characters.
We stay true to God by remembering how he loved us, and with that same love we outpour and can love and do good for others! God is a God who delights in our shared love, he instructs us to love Him, and to be of service to one another. Think about Jesus’ life, he knew that the time, within the days and hours when he would be accused of blasphemy, beaten and tortured, and crucified for our sins, yet in his remaining hours he did not seek to exalt himself, but instead lowered himself to be as a servant, and washed the feet of the apostles. To stay true to God’s word, we must follow the Word’s [Logos - Jesus Christ’s] example, because “no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” (John 13:16)
Now for a quick look at history. Christ came to fulfill the law, to die for our sins, and to open a way for eternal life through his merit. These ideas were well understood by the apostles, but error and the fallen human nature seeped into the early church system. For all mankind there are dangers of seeking self-glorification, greed, power, and recognition. The rise of garnering followers by provoking fear with concepts of Hell began, as the church mixed pagan traditional ideas, particularly Greek myths that supported the idea of Hades and an immortal soul dating back to the days of Socrates, with the Christian faith. It became common for holidays and Christian holy days to be mixed with pagan traditions in order to appeal to a larger audience, and for a Hell of fire and brimstone, and eternal punishment to draw followers to “Christianity”. But we know that fear is contrary to love, as “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). The apostles and those in Jesus’ day spreading the true word recognized that it is not out of fear of punishment that we serve God, and follow in Christ’s footsteps, but out of love for what he did for us, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10).
The scribes and the Pharisees serve as an example of those who, while well studied and possessing the most knowledge of the written word of God, whose job was to guide the people and be the religious leaders of Israel, failed to stay true to it. Studying is absolutely essential to knowing God’s word, but remembering to apply it, and to make sure our heart condition is
acceptable to God needs to be used as an anecdote from falling into the same errors of the Pharisees, and as the church systems eventually would. Scripture tells us, “But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:1-3). We can learn a lot from the errors of the Pharisees. A lot of what not to do. Jesus tells us about this plainly in Matthew 23. He calls out their hypocrisy stating: “they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others…woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in…you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.…you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence… you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” The condemnations here are warnings and risks for all believers. We have to remember that it is not by outward appearance that God judges, but by the conditions of the heart. Falling into the trap of self righteousness, of false humility and of seeking validation from others for the glorification of self is to stray from God’s word and fall into the same trap that the scribes and Pharisees fell into. Greed and self-indulgence can’t coexist with Christ’s call to deny self, take up our cross, and follow him (Matthew 16:24). We must hold true to justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Recognizing that we will know them by their fruits, and being observant of where false doctrines lead can help us note the red flags in various belief systems and ultimately the lessons from the past can teach us how to walk according to the Word of God. If we hold fast to God’s word, remember the scriptures that tell us clearly what His will is for us, and not only be hearers but doers of the word, we are comforted and remember, “that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
- A Follower of Christ