I dropped in on the Christadelphians bible study at the Village Hall on Wednesday evening. Though we differ from them in our Trinitarian faith for them as for us the scriptures are of vital significance. I read some verses as they went round the table reading through Matthew Chapter Five. I gave them a greeting from St Giles and some of them expressed interest in our planned evening on the King James Bible in September.
There is no word of God without power. Christadelphians see the words of scripture as literally words of God. We as Anglicans look rather to the interpretation of that word and to the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to help our reading scripture.
In today’s first and last readings we have an underlining of the importance of scripture. Isaiah speaks prophetically for God:
My word that goes out from my mouth.. shall not return to me empty,but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55.10-13
The interpretation of the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 concludes but as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
The seed sown represents the word of God. Our Lord firstly expects us to believe when we hear the Bible read that we are in some profound sense hearing God.
Then we need to prepare the very ground of our being to welcome that word. The seed that fell on rocky ground failed to produce fruit because it lacked moisture and withered away in the heat of the sun. To hear God’s word is to receive it actively into our heart and mind. If it remains just on the surface of our minds it will not yield fruit.
Receiving it deep within us requires the discipline of studying and pondering it. It is an admirable discipline to take away the pew sheet and do just that, using whatever thinking has been kindled by the Sunday sermon. If we feel touched in our spirit at Sunday worship it is good in the days that follow to fan the flame of whatever touched us.
To return to the images used in today’s Gospel we need to break up the stony ground of our heart to be made capable of receiving what God has to say to us. There is no word of God without power but the word within us fades away and loses power unless watered by the Holy Spirit who comes to us through prayer, fellowship and Holy Communion.
The Holy Spirit – and here we rather differ from Christadelphians – the Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures is ready to grant inspiration to all who read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them a practical understanding.
There is no word of God without power. We should expect our engagement with scripture to be transformative. The key to that is to hold onto all God says to us in it rather than getting overwhelmed by the cares of the world and the lure of wealth that choke the word (so) it yields nothing.
The key to seeing scripture transforming us is to make it possible for the seed to fall on good soil which comes about when we keep the word alive within us by the Spirit and obey it. This produces the abundant harvest the Gospel speaks of.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts produce such a harvest this morning as we take the word of God to heart by the Holy Spirit. God make us good soil bearing an abundant harvest in his praise and service, to whom, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be all might, majesty, dominion and power now and forever. Amen.
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