...on "being in the Word"

One summer I decided that we were going to do “church” differently. Rather than conduct a regular church service every week, I suggested we meet every other week at people’s homes and share a meal. No “worship time” no “message” just pasta and bratwurst. I don’t know, it sounded very New Testamenty at the time and being the innovative thinker that I am (at least in my mind!), I figured I could persuade people that this was a really cool idea. So I made the decision all by myself and inflicted it on our church.

Hindsight tells me that I should have unloaded this bomb a bit more carefully. It probably would have led to a better outcome, but despite the struggle, I discovered something. It’s really easy to talk about being innovative and “thinking-outside-the-box” but when it comes down to actually doing things differently, its really hard…and we don’t like to do hard things. I should have noticed it sooner, but there was some real anxiety over this.

Conversations I had after-the-fact revealed questions like;

“Shouldn't there be a bulletin?

Aren't we supposed to be singing worship songs?”

Probably the biggest question was “shouldn’t we be more in the Word?” Now, over dinner, we talked genuinely about our lives, we prayed for each other. We laughed together and our affection for each other deepened, but we didn’t do a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of…say, Jonah, and we didn’t do anything remotely “Purpose-Driven!”

I've been thinking lately about exactly what it means – “IN” the Word? Does it mean that we should be reading chapter after chapter each day? Does it mean detailed study and analysis? Does it mean memorization? Maybe a more important question is "whose job is it to do this?"

I have a feeling that God's perspective on this issue is a lot different. Think about it this way: if the core issue that separated man from God was some sort of spiritual disease, He would have sent some kind of cosmic vaccination to heal us. If the core issue was our inability to hear His message, He would have waited until the 20th century when "communication was king" and capitalized on our amazing ability to transmit large and complex amounts of information. If it were simply an intellectual argument or scientific evidence keeping us from Him, wouldn't it be more logical to send a brilliant scientist or philosopher; someone with impeccable credentials who could reason us into heaven? But none of these approaches get to the heart of the matter.

God desired a relationship - person to person - so He came- flesh and blood; a Person to whom we could relate. Jesus' own best friend said it this way: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." God had every possible means of communication at His disposal when He decided it was time to unveil His Kingdom. He chose to put skin on and explain it face-to-face. So for God (and I admit the analogy is risky) "being-in-the-word" simply meant fleshing out truth in three-dimensional, living color. The truth is He loves us and wants to be with us! For us it means living moment by moment believing that Jesus is real and that He really wants to be a part of our lives. It means we talk (and probably more important, we listen) to Him. It means we make daily decisions based on what is best for our relationship together. It means that His priorities are becoming our priorities. That’s how Jesus’ other friends (Peter, John and the other guys) saw it. Why should it be different for us?

We’ve probably forgotten more biblical information than most people will ever learn. I know a lot of people who can quote chapter-and-verse and are very skillful in theological debate, but that's not the point. The point is: are we putting skin on what we already know? Paul admonished us to do that very thing; (see Phil. 3:16) It often seems that the people who complain the loudest about wanting more of the "Word" in their church experience are the ones least likely to flesh out even the simplest of Biblical commands like, "do not think more highly of yourselves than you ought, but in humility regard one another as more important than yourselves." Or "rejoice in the Lord…"

Try asking yourself a few questions that might suggest how much of the “Word” you’re getting. In the last week, what have you done personally to flesh out what you already know? Does your schedule reflect a life-altering devotion to loving God and those around you? This is straight from Scripture (Matthew 22:37-40 to be precise); its pure theology. Is it your biography? Isn’t it time that we defined this phrase more Biblically? Let’s say that from now on, "Being-in-the-Word" means fewer words and more action. It means that we really only "know" something when we're living it. It means, like it did for Jesus, a life-altering devotion and submission to the will of the Father.

The fact is, detailed Biblical analysis and study without a sincere willingness to put into practice the things learned is NOT being in the Word. If it was, Jesus would have had a faithful band of Pharisees, not hookers, criminals, cripples and rednecks following Him. Jesus’ brother would later tell us that DOING what the Word says is THE thing. Just listening (no matter how well presented) is nothing more than theological masturbation.