Examining "A More Christlike Word" by Brad Jersak
Day 4
I may not make any progress along the trail today because (figuratively speaking) when I woke up this morning and opened my tent flaps, I was greeted with the most glorious sunrisy scene that I cannot go any further without first taking it all in. If you know the “Wild Pacific Trail” on the outskirts of Ucluelet, BC, you will picture how a viewpoint opens up one scene after another for us to take in. That is how I felt as God’s word led me to the Word in wonderfully refreshing ways.
The first part of my time in the word each morning is my “daily time with God”. My focus is on listening to what God is speaking to me about through whatever portion of scripture comes next. It doesn’t matter whether I get through a whole chapter or paragraph, or even if I only make it through one or two words in a sentence. My point is to receive whatever “the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2 & 3) and apply it specifically to my place in the body of Christ.
The other main way I journey through God’s word is by listening to an audio Bible while I exercise a few days a week. This allows me to “read” through the whole Bible, covering much longer sections than I could otherwise fit in. This also gives me the bigger picture of scripture (like what’s on the puzzle box) and often expands on what God was speaking to me about in my one-puzzle-piece-at-a-time kind of journey earlier.
Here's how my time of listening to God’s word became a viewpoint that is not only beautiful in its own right, but also gives me exactly what I need to experience in my journey through BJ’s book.
First, as I was listening my way through John 18, the reader got to vs 37 where Jesus said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
This hit me as one of those examples of where a variety of meanings are kept in their proper places. Jesus said that he came to “bear witness to the truth.” However, by this point, he had already told his disciples that he is the truth. Most of us would have no difficulty understanding that bearing witness to the truth (as recorded in God’s word) is not in conflict with Jesus being the truth and us bearing witness about him. It fits the way the word leads us to the Word, and in no way requires us to minimize the word as the word as we magnify the Word as the Word.
Then I had to scribble down the essence of a note that was coming to mind, kind of like I was standing at this viewpoint as a frequent traveller of a particular trail and explaining to a newcomer some of the background to what the trail and the viewpoint mean to me.
What I was thinking about was that, in all the decades of getting to know God in and through his word (and specifically the past thirty-two years of treating the Bible like God is speaking to me through his word), I have never once put the word and the Word in the wrong order.
Also, in all the decades of being in home church ministry where other people are letting God speak to them through his word, I have never heard anyone put the word above the Word. I have seen plenty of examples of people putting their own will above both the word and the Word, but never putting the word of God above the Word of God.
At the same time, I have had and heard many testimonies of how God has spoken through his word to lead people to his Son, the Word, so that we were all getting to know God better every day than we have ever known him before, and this by getting to know the Word through the word.
As I continued listening while working out, I found myself in Acts 4 where Peter said, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness” (vs 29). The apostles and others speaking God’s “word” included a mix of the scriptures that had already been written, along with the message of “the gospel of the kingdom” that we now have in the written form of scripture as well. God’s response to this prayer was, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (vs 31). We have the records of how the church “continued to speak the word of God”, and it is a mix of the scriptures that were already written, and the message of the gospel of the kingdom.
My point is that this is what God led me to in this viewpoint this morning, and it was a wonderful, refreshing, and encouraging sight to behold. We now have this recorded in the scriptures that have followed from this so we also can “speak the word of God with boldness” just like them.[1]
The last focus before my exercise time ended was Stephen’s message to the religious elite in Acts 7. All I will say is that this chapter gives us an amazing historical record of Stephen using the word of God (the Old Testament scriptures) to confront the religious hypocrites with their sin of rejecting the Word of God. Not only did Stephen not exalt the word of God above the Word of God, but neither have I ever heard anyone else do so with such a scripture filled with scripture. It puts on glorious display (like that seaside viewpoint) the way we get to know the Word of God through the word of God.
This leads into some notes I had already put into my journal through BJ’s book, so I will pick up from there and make that enough of an adventure for today (I think).
So far, I have learned enough of what the BJs are presenting that I would summarize their teaching in contrast to the Bible’s teaching in this way:
|
The False Filter |
The Biblical Filter |
|
The word OR the Word |
The Word THROUGH the word |
Here is what each of these filters will do as we continue examining this book to see if it is in the faith:
|
The False Filter |
The Biblical Filter |
|
The word OR the Word |
The Word THROUGH the word |
|
There will be a continuing theme of
presenting a conflict between the Word and the word so that, somewhere along
the trail, we will reach viewpoints where we are expected to discard the
plain reading of the word of God in order to side with BJ’s view of the Word
of God (the one BJ wanted to find in the scriptures). |
Taking our own look at whatever scriptures
are shared, and however they are interpreted, will show us that any scripture
that is shared from the word of God will point us to the Word of God without
any conflict whatsoever. We will likely come out of this loving the word of
God more than ever for how it brings us to the Word of God, our Savior, Jesus
the Christ. |
Since I am picturing this as a journal-journey, and BJ’s book is the path I must travel, this simple table is like showing us the two magnifying glasses we must choose between for the rest of the trip. Everything will be examined to see how it is demanding us to choose between the Word and the word, or how it is leading us to know the Word through the word.
From here on in, I will keep these magnifying glasses at the start of each day’s journey and let them remind us that this is the major disparity between the BJs and folks like me. Whoever has the wrong view will lead to all the other misapplications of the word that will lead people astray. Whoever has the right view will lead us to grow in our knowledge, understanding, and attachment to the Word through what even the scriptures call “the word of God”.
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
A More Christlike Word © 2021 by Bradley Jersak Whitaker House 1030 Hunt Valley Circle • New Kensington, PA 15068 www.whitakerhouse.com
Jersak, Bradley. A More Christlike Word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus Way. Whitaker House. Kindle Edition.
[1]
I’m sure I will bring these up
in future responses, but I will just show that my understanding of the “word of
God” has been shaped by what the word says about such things. Here are some
more scriptures that refer to the scriptures as “the word of God” (NOT “the
Word of God”).
Matthew
15:6 – “So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God
(referring to what was written in the law).” Repeated in Mark 7:13.
John
10:35 – “If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture
cannot be broken—” Jesus identified “the word of God” with “Scripture”.
I’m not
saying that references to “the word of God” are only the scriptures, but that
what we have in the scriptures was called “the word of God”.
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