Transformation by the Word of God

The Word of God forms us in the image of  Christ

I.  Word of God
The Word doesn’t teach us about every detail of knowledge, but it’s the divine/authoritative interpretation of those things that God wants to say to us.

Hebrews 4:12
12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

It’s designed to open the heart, penetrate to the core.
Why is it so important in transformation?  
1.  It’s ALIVE! The Spirit is always present when the word is read, he is always attesting to it
2.  It penetratesbeyond your mental thoughts about the text.    
3.  The Word of God will 
            Judge your thoughts and intentions  
            Evaluate your thinking and the intentions of your heart 
            Demand honesty in the ENCOUNTER with your heart.
4   Be open to the Word’s penetration, judgment, and encounter. 
            Don’t try to generate feeling and devotion—that’s the Spirit’s job.  
            Stay there long enough to give the Spirit time to talk to me.  “Lord, what’s      really going on in my heart?”

3- prong- approach to reading the Word of God.  A Spiritual Discipline.
            1. God, I want this to penetrate my heart
            2. Holy Spirit, critique my mind.
            3. God, reveal the intentions of my heart.
            It’s the beginning of soul surgery.  Expose and expunge the sins, begin to      build new virtues.

            TRANSFORMATION by the renewing of our mind.
Romans 12: 1-2
 1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Whatever text we are dwelling on, it becomes a mirror for looking at the heart   Let it penetrate, judge and reveal.  




II.  Illumination of the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:14-16

14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.  15But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

How does the Word transform?
·     It is not by ideas alone.  It’s the HS that transforms you
·     He takes parts of the Word and applies them to our lives.
·     He uses trials, circumstances, and his own internal witness (Romans 8)  
·     It is by the Spirit that we cry out Abba, Father!  Or cry for help.
·     TRUTH + LOVE working on the heart—The WORD + LOVE of the Spirit to open up the heart. 
·     The Word will help interpret the trial.
·     In a Dark Night, that might be hard to do, but stay with it.  
·     Word and Spirit are inseparable from God’s perspective
·      Word and Prayer are inseparable from our perspective

III.  Goal of Biblical Interpretation
How does our theory of interpretation (hermeneutic) fit with prayer reading?
How do we engage in prayerful reading (required as a believer) when we are supposed to interpret the Bible?

1.  A correct understanding of the Biblical text—what does it really mean?  What was the author’s intent?
2.  Integrate the understanding of what the text means with the Analogy of Faith
            
            Analogy of Faith (from the Reformers)
                        a. there can be no interpretation of scripture that is contrary to                                               salvation by grace of Christ by faith alone; 
                        b. Scripture interprets Scripture (compare it to other texts)--                                                   scriptures that uphold justification by Faith trump any other scripture.  For instance, Luther interprets Matt 25 (sheep vs. goats) through the Analogy of Faith—so it CAN’T   mean that salvation is by works. 

3.  Application to Life (1Cor2:14-16)—prayer

4.  The Analogy of Faith is supposed to protect devotional reading.  How does this fit  with my salvation by grace through faith?
            
ASK YOURSELF AND THE HOLY SPIRIT:
1.  Is this interpretation true?  Does this square with the rest of Scripture?  Does this text square with reality?
2.  Lord, make me humble. Is this really the right interpretation?
                        

Colossians 3:16 
16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
I've been reading a Lenten series through YouVersion these last few weeks, and today this came through from Watchman Nee--a writer from China who I did not understand when I tried to read him 30 years ago.  But now I begin to see what he was saying.  Like John of the Cross.  And Teresa of Avila.  And John Coe. The fact that I am now in my 60's in not lost on me here.  Until God has brought us through "difficult and painful ways", it is hard to see where He is taking us.  Until the Spirit has swept the heart clean of the residue of the Old Person--or at least a great portion of it--and replaced it with Himself, it is impossible to experience the miracle of resurrection in your own soul.  Now I see a glimmer of what is to come and it urges me on to surrender more and more of myself.  Surrender to God is, in the end, the only way to Life. "God must bring us to a point - I cannot tell you how it will be, but He will do it - where, through a deep and dark experi
Read more

Beneath the Cross of Jesus...

Image
Come and sit with me at the foot of the Cross for a few minutes.  It's a peaceful place-- a place where we come to realize that there was never anything to worry about in the first place.  We can sit here with Jesus amidst the weeds of our lives and just ... be.  And it's ok. This next week is a week of remembering Jesus' path to the Cross.  We remember His resolute journey.  Luke says, "He turned His face to Jerusalem".  He knew where He was going and why, and He did not turn away.   Jesus calls us to not "turn away" from ourselves.  Just has He had to deal with fear and dread as He walked obediently toward His death, He calls us to continue, unflinching, in our quest for the whole self He made us to be. Last week we talked about the Shadow Self in each of us--the hidden parts of our hearts represented by the low scores on our Myers Briggs tests.  I have been meditating on my hidden places.  None of them is as extreme as my inclination to Int
Read more

The Journey

Image
An Interlude at the Beginning of Advent... Today we took time to enjoy the work of The Advent Project , put on each year by Biola University's Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts. The story of Christmas actually began in the Garden with the story of Adam and Eve.  The drawing that caught my eye was one of Eve kneeling at the foot of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in despair as the serpent looks on from the trunk.  But rather than the figure of the angel ordering her from the Garden, the figure of a glowing Mary stands next to her, linking the 2 stories, linking the lives of these two Mothers--one of pride and grasping, the other of obedience and humility-- as surely as Paul linked the First and Last Adams. Please click the link below and enjoy the art, music, poetry and meditative writing you find. http://ccca.biola.edu/advent/#day-nov-29 And sign up, if you like,  to have this wonderful devotional sent to you daily throughout Advent by entering your
Read more