Word of Salvation – Vol.10 No.30 – July 1964

 

The Word Of God In Our Lives

 

Sermon by Rev. F. De Vries on Deut.11:18-21

Scripture Reading: Revelation 3:7-13

 

Beloved in the Lord,

This is the age of the hobby.  There was a time, when people did not have hobbies… when they did not have time for them.  People were fully occupied then with the serious business of living.

But not so now.  The 40 hour work week has brought lots of free time to the people, which they spend in various hobbies, whether it be music, fishing, painting or stamp collecting.  The slogan “everyone must have a hobby” can often be heard from the psychiatrists, and can be read in all sorts of magazines.

Apart from the fact that this is sometimes rather exaggerated, there is not much wrong with having a hobby, as long as there is enough time left for the rather serious business of living.

For some people become so engrossed, so involved with their hobby, whether it is music or sport, that they have no time left for the more important things in life, and then those things are pushed away in a corner.  More and more of the important, of the essential things in life are whittled down, are minimized, until they too, are regarded as a hobby.  And then, so these people say, one must make a choice: either the one hobby, or the other.

One of the most important parts of our lives which is in this way reduced to a mere hobby, which can be done away with, is our spiritual life.

Some people like going to Church, others don’t.  Some people are interested in religion, either for themselves or for their children, others are not interested.  Some people are fond of reading the Bible, to others it is just an ancient ornament, suitable for decorating the mantelpiece, or some antique furniture.  No wonder that many a Church is getting emptier and emptier under this type of reasoning.  And sometimes I wonder whether that is not the fault of the Churches as well.  For nowadays we more and more hear the cry that sermons are too difficult, that Catechism instruction is too difficult, that the addresses given at public meetings are too difficult, in short, almost anything which has a good amount of contents, anything which has something to say, is classed as too difficult, and should be out.

Now I fully agree that the Word of God must be brought in a manner, which makes it possible to be understood.  It should not be made too difficult, and it should be for everybody.

But when people tell you, for example, that it is too difficult to understand that Ezekiel was a priest as well as a prophet, and that a sermon should be without dogmatics、.  that is: without teaching…, then I wonder who is at fault, and whether we are all going the same way: Regard religion as a hobby, and the Word of God as a bundle of interesting stories.  Then I wonder if it is not the fault of the ministers, who have listened too much to this type of criticism, when the sermons become empty and meaningless, and the gospel of Christ is reduced to an interesting fable.

I have nothing but admiration for the many excellent children’s Bibles, which are available now.  But do not forget that they are CHILDREN’S Bibles, and that they can never take the place of the actual Word of God.

But the trouble is, that we all are in danger of making a hobby of the Word of God, reading it, studying it, when we have time for it, when we feel like it, if there is nothing else to do, when our other hobbies do not demand all our time, in other words, it has become, not even a full hobby, but a part time, spare time, reserve hobby.

Therefore I would invite you to listen with me to the words of Moses, the great Mediator of the Old Testament, when he speaks about: THE WORD OF GOD IN OUR LIVES.

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul”.

To lay up, means to store, to put in a safe place as you do with something very valuable.  Our Lord, for example, is speaking about the same thing when He says “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  It is as if Moses knew these words too.  Lay up these words in your heart.  Be careful with them, and make sure that you do not lose them.  Handle them, as if these words were precious jewels, dearer than silver and gold.

The Israelites certainly listened to those words.  They learned them by heart, and it is because they listened so well, that they all knew them so well.

Those Israelite boys and girls were a bit different from ours today.  They too would be very indignant, if they had to learn a text by heart, and they would have protested if their teacher had asked them to know this or that text for the next time.

Yes, they would have felt insulted, for in those days you did not learn a text, a verse, but you learnt at least a chapter, and often a book by heart.

That was the best way, to store up these treasures.  In that way they could not possible lose them.

It was as with those many Christians who have been imprisoned during the ages.  Even during the last war.  They could be found in prisons and in concentration camps, faithful, believing, trusting……. but without their Bibles.

But they need not fear.  Most of them knew large portions of the Bible by heart, and they consoled and comforted their fellow prisoners, who had to do without the comfort of the Word of God.  By their sheer knowledge of the Bible, they even brought the gospel to many who were previously strangers to Jesus, who were just heathen.

Many a service was conducted in secret, without a Bible, but with the Word of God being preached by a faithful Christian, who had laid up the Words of God in his heart and in his soul; while the sombre prisons and barracks were cheered with the music of God’s children, who sung their psalms with trembling, yet courageous voices.

But if the present trend continues, then I am afraid that soon we will have a Church full of Christians, who only know the Bible on the outside, and who do not understand the preaching from the Word of God, because they do not know that Word of God itself.  Because they leave it to their minister and an occasional elder to study it.  That is their task, is not it?  But by that time, we may not have to worry any more.  By that time the Church will be empty anyway.  For when people do not know the Word of God, then they cannot listen to it either.  Then it cannot be a guide to their feet, a lamp to light their pathway unto heaven.

Moses is very practical here in this respect.  “Bind those words as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

The hands are the instruments of the body to perform work, while the eyes act as the messengers for the brain.  When the eyes see a danger ahead, then the message goes to the brain, and the brain says: “Careful!, we shall have a good look around first.”  And although it is the brain which decides where and how a man shall walk, it is left to the eyes to see and to behold the path, the road, or whatever the way may be.

And so Moses says clearly: Bind those words to your hands and to your eyes, so that all your actions may be guided by that Word.  So that you shall always know where to go, and how to walk.

The Israelites listened to this command very carefully.  They made two little boxes, about the size of a matchbox, but then square.  In those boxes they put little pieces, little rolls of very fine paper.  Originally those boxes were a bit bigger, because the people could not make such fine paper as they can nowadays, but the present day Jews have these small boxes with this very fine paper, and on it you may find the 10 commandments, plus the famous words of Shemah Yizraèl, “Hear, O Israel… the Lord your God is One, Unique God.”

These boxes they tie to their upper arm and to their foreheads whenever they pray, or are in the Synagogue, thus obeying the command of God literally, with the one box, on their upper arm, resting upon their hearts, and the other box, on their foreheads, resting between their eyes.

Nowadays you can buy very small editions of the Bible, or of the gospels.  But I am afraid that few people buy them.  We rather have a bigger Bible.  Much easier to read…. or to leave at home.  Many do not even bother to take a Bible to Church with them, or to the Bible Study Group.  Or to Catechism classes for that matter.

I wonder what our Lord’s reaction would be if He walked in, one night, at a meeting of one of our study groups.

I imagine the conversation would go something like this: “Peace be unto you, my children”.
“Oh, is that you, Lord?  Just a minute, while I roll a cigarette.”
“It is a joy to me to see you here, gathered around My word.
Which portion are you discussing?”
“Eh?  Oh, just a tick, what is the subject for tonight, George?”
“Let Me help you, let us open the Scriptures together.  Will we?”
“Sorry Lord, but I have not got a Bible.
Actually I need a new one,
but I have not finished paying for my radiogram yet.”
“Shall we open God’s Word at Isaiah,
just as I did when I preached in Nazareth,
and when I told them ‘Today this Word is fulfilled in thine ears?'”
“Oh no, not Isaiah, that is too dogmatic, too difficult.
I have to think to hard for that.”

Somehow I think that not many of us would care to be there, when our Lord would visit us one night.  We might feel too embarrassed.

But how on earth, if we do not know anything ourselves, how on earth are we going to teach our children?

Thank God that also in this congregation there are still some parents who can and who will help their children with their catechism homework.  But oh, how few there are.

How few there are of whom it can truly be said that they “keep” God’s Word.

For those Israelites it was no trouble to do as Moses had commanded them.  “You shall teach these words to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise”.

To our forefathers this was no problem, either they DID teach their children sitting in their houses, and Catechism was really a family affair in those days.  That was the time when the man was really prophet, priest and king in his own home.

It would be quite normal to take the children for a walk and speak about the Lord Jesus, about His love and His grace.

And the Word of God would certainly be discussed, “laying down and rising up”.  The day would start with God, and the day would finish with God.

In that way, the children would grow up with the Word of God, not as a spare time hobby, but as an essential part of their lives.

That is why it is so important to have Christian schools, and Christian education.  You cannot teach science, and history and geography, without mentioning the Word of God, at least not when it is a Christian education.

It is very nice of the State Schools to have 20 minutes per week religious instruction.  But it does not mean much, when there are hours spent without a thought of the Word of God, indeed, with many a teacher undoing in a moment, what some minister or faithful teacher tried to build up in the hearts and in the minds of the children during many long hours.

Therefore we MUST have Christian schools, if Christianity is to survive in this part of the world.  It is the greatest inheritance which we can leave behind for our children.  Far more precious than beautiful houses or big bank accounts.

A good education, that is: a Christian education’ is something which will last the children right throughout their lives.  It is THE instrument, which will keep them close to their Lord.  For do not forget, the only way we know God is through His Word.  And without loving His Word, we cannot really love the Lord.

That Word must be the hallmark, the identification mark, the brand of every Christian.  A Christian without the Word of Christ is like a judge without a law, like a carpenter without his tools, like a butcher without meat, like a farmer without land.

But I am afraid that many of us would feel embarrassed if they had to do what the Israelites had to do.  “Write those words upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.

Yet, even today you may find thousands of these words written upon the doorposts of faithful people.  That is, they were faithful to Moses, but they failed to be faithful to Christ.

“The Mezuzah”, as it is called, is a wooden or a steal tube, which is fastened to the right hand doorpost of the house, or the gate, and which contains these verses, together with the prayer which we just mentioned.  Whenever you see such a Mezuzah, you know that there is a pious Jew living there.

Sometimes I wished that we would have such an identification mark as well.  It might give us the courage which we often lack to speak about the Church and the Kingdom of Christ our King.

Actually it should not be necessary to have such a mark.  The Christian should be so full of the Holy Spirit, that both His life and his words clearly testify of the state of grace he is living in.

Sometimes I can be jealous of those Jehovah witnesses, who with their falsified Bible go around to preach the Word of God.  A Word, which they love so much, that they are never without it.  Perhaps, by the grace of God, some of our younger people will attain the love, and the zeal and the courage which so often is lacking in their elders.  But humanly speaking, the future looks dark and grim.

It is a great comfort, that this has been the case before in history.  That the Word of God seemed to be on the verge of disappearance, so much so, that in the middle of the last century someone predicted that within one hundred years, Jesus would be a totally unknown Person.

We trust in God, when we say that His Word can never be suppressed, can never be silenced.  We do not have to rely upon man, but with the help and the strength of God, that Word will once more occupy its rightful place in our hearts, in our lives, in our Churches.  Not as a spare time hobby, not even as a full time hobby, but as an essential part of our very existence, knowing that without God, we may exist, but we certainly are not alive.  For that Word is our hope, is our support, now, and in the life hereafter.  Whether we are speaking about our beautiful Australia, or whether we are speaking about the eternal Kingdom of God.

“That your days, and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.”

This expression, “that your days may be prolonged in the land, which the Lord your God is giving you”, is an expression which means the same as wishing someone salvation, eternal life.

But here it is also used in a temporal sense, of the land of Canaan.  And as such we may also take it to apply to the country we are living in.

This is, in name at least, a Christian country.  A country we love, a country we wish to serve, and to preserve.

But the future of this country is closely linked with the future of the Church of the Lord.  The country and the Church are linked in a way, which cannot be loosed.  If in this country the Church will fail, then so will the people.

Communism and fascism are not very strong here yet.  But they are present, all the same.  And all over the world we see the same; where Christianity is losing, there Communism is winning.

In the face of the Word of God, communism cannot possibly exist.  But there, where the Word of God is no longer heard, where the Bible remains closed, there the theology of the world, communism can readily advance.

That is, because true life on this earth, life with God and with His Word, is but a preview of what life will be in heaven.  There the Word of God will no longer be thrust aside, and the children of God will no longer close their ears and their hearts.  At the wedding of the Lamb, the Lamb of God, at the great feast of Jesus, the conqueror, that Word will be heard, and spoken, and sung.

May He, our great and glorious Saviour, prepare us for that day, by speaking to us now, today in and through His Word.

May, in that Word, we serve our Lord, just as our Lord has served us, in saving us.

For in Him, and from Him and unto Him are all things.  Now, and for evermore.

Amen.