Sermon Tone Analysis

The Word of God is Living!

Hebrews 4:12, 13

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Introduction

I sometimes wonder what it must be like to be a teacher.

I suspect that there are times when they are teaching something and it feels like their words are falling to the floor.

Some students appear to be paying attention, but when you look closer, the attentive look is really a dazed look.

Others have their head on their desk and others are obviously paying attention to something else, possibly their cell phone.

As a teacher, you have interesting and important stuff to teach the students and sometimes their interest seems to be absent.

At times like that, it must be frustrating and you must feel powerless to make the words heard.

I wonder if God ever feels that way.

He has spoken His word and I wonder if He ever feels as if His words are just falling to the floor.

The Bible reveals that He is saddened by our failure to really listen to Him and His word, but it also says that He does not feel powerless about the words He has spoken.

In Hebrews 4:12-13 we read, “For the word of God is living and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

What this word tells us is that God’s word has power and it will be accomplished.

Are we listening?

How does His word impact us?

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I.                   The Word of God

God has spoken, but not only in the Bible.

When God created, He spoke.

Jesus is called “The Word.”

God has spoken at other times through prophecy.

When we look at this verse, we need to recognize that when it speaks of the “word of God,” we need to think more broadly than just about the Bible but also about whatever God has communicated.

Of course, the clearest word of God we have is the Bible, so that is naturally and primarily what we will think of, but we need to understand that God’s word refers to any way in which God has spoken.

!! A.                 Is Living and Active

            That word is living.

That is an interesting concept to think about.

A person is living, an animal or a plant are living, but what does it mean that a word is living?

We think of a word as something that is a piece of art, a drawing that communicates, but we don’t think of a word as living.

What this tells us is that God’s Word is not a word which is spoken and then drops to the ground and turns to dust.

It is not like a dead leaf, rather it is like a living plant.

When I was a teenager, we thought we were so cool.

We knew the latest songs and styles and were up to date.

Our parents were out of date.

I have realized since that those songs and styles that we thought were up to date are now out of date.

The word of God is living because it never goes out of date.

It always has something to say to us.

To say that the Word of God is alive is to recognize that it will accomplish whatever God sends it to do.

When God speaks, whatever He speaks happens.

Isaiah 55:11assures us, “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 I sent it.”

His word is also active.

The Greek word for “active” is the word “ἐνεργὴς,” from which we get our word “energy.”

Jeremiah 23:29 describes the energy or power of the word of God when it says, “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”

The energy, or power, of the word of God is seen in creation.

Have you ever contemplated that when God created, He did so by a word?

In Genesis 1:3 we read, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

In the RSV version of Hebrews 1:3 it says, “the world was created by the word of God.”

What tremendous power!

Our words may occasionally have power when we tell our children to do something and they do it, but God simply spoke and the entire universe sprang into being!

The power of the word of God is also seen in the message of salvation.

Romans 1:16 in the Good News Bible says, “I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God’s power to save all who believe…” The word of God, the gospel, has power to forgive sins and give eternal life!

These are probably the two main ways in which God has spoken – in creation and in salvation - and what He has spoken has happened.

That is a living and powerful word!

!! B.                 Penetrates and Divides

As we read on, we discover that the Word of God has great power in another way.

We read, “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

There are several interesting thoughts expressed here.

The word of God is so precise, so sharp, so effective that it is able to divide those things that appear almost indivisible.

Using picture language, the writer speaks of the word of God as able to dissect soul and spirit.

I remember debates in Bible school in which we discussed whether people were divided into three parts – body, soul and spirit, or two parts – body and spirit.

I remember thinking that I could not distinguish what was meant by soul and spirit, they seem to me to be one, but the word of God is so sharp, so precise that it can distinguish between soul and spirit.

It is also able to separate joints and marrow.

These are word pictures and we need to read them as such.

Their intent is to tell us that the word of God is able to discern what is in the deepest part of our being and to distinguish all our thoughts and motives and intentions.

The word of God is able to judge and discern all the hidden areas of our heart in ways that we often don’t even distinguish ourselves.

The phrase, “thoughts and intentions” tells us that God’s word distinguishes all our motives, all our intentions and helps us understand whether they are godly or not.

What this means, first of all is that God knows all our thoughts and even what is deep in our hearts.

One of the great stories of the Bible tells us about this.

When Samuel chose David as king, the story goes that Samuel was sent to the home of Jesse to anoint the next king because Saul had failed.

Jesse brought all his sons before Samuel and it seems they were an impressive lot - handsome, strong, able leaders.

But God rejected all of them.

Finally Samuel asked if there was anyone else and the answer of the family suggests that at least in their eyes, the only one left was the runt of the litter.

David was summoned and was chosen as king.

The reason he was chosen is that God knew what was in his heart.

I Samuel 16:7 reveals God’s standard for his choice when it says, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

This is what the word of God is able to do, it is able to discern and recognize all that is happening in our deepest being.

But the word of God not only reveals what is in our hearts, it is powerful to distinguish what is good and what is bad in our hearts.

How often do we find a way to justify sin by some excuse?

It is easy to fool people with our motives.

In fact, it is easy to make ourselves look good in front of people.

The word of God, however, is able to separate between what is a good motive and what is a selfish motive.

Jesus did this with the Pharisees.

They thought they were being obedient to God’s word by dedicating their belongings to God.

But Jesus accused them and said they were disobeying God by failing to take care of their parents.

The Pharisees came to Jesus with righteous anger, ready to stone a woman caught in adultery, but Jesus, by his question and his writing in the sand revealed the hypocrisy of their hearts.

We can fool a lot of people by coming to church every Sunday and perhaps even teaching a Sunday School class, but the Word of God reveals whether our motives are to look good to other people or to serve the Lord because we love Him.

I suspect we have all experienced that penetrating work of the word of God.

Gerald Flury writes, “Have you ever wondered how a sermon or a Sunday school lesson can be so fitted to what you are experiencing?

You may even think that someone has talked to them and given them some inside information about you.

The truth is that it isn’t the teacher or the preacher.

It’s the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God, delivering the right message at the right place at the right time.”

John Piper writes, “God means what he says.

What he says goes.

His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey.

Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word.

We can’t get away from it—no matter what.”

!! C.                 Exposes All