By Glenn Metts
Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church, Seymour
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 4:1-9
I am so thankful that as a child and young man I was taught the importance of the Word of God. I have always had a high view of Scripture and value it as the one source of absolute truth. I was raised in the Lutheran tradition and later joined a great Southern Baptist church when I was 16 years old.
When I joined the First Calvary Baptist Church, I had the joy of attending a youth Bible study on Monday evenings led by our pastor. He instilled in us a love for the Word of God and helped us apply it to our own lives. It’s true that the Word of God is living and active! I began to grow in my faith and that has made all the difference in my life. As our lesson this week points out, God is honored when His people listen to, follow, and teach His Word.
I witnessed a great example of someone who genuinely honors the Lord by loving and teaching His Word. I had the privilege of leading mission teams to Brazil many times. We partnered in an area called the “Complexo de Mare.” There was a pastor there who was legally blind. He had to go to great lengths to magnify God’s Word whenever he read it or studied. In preparation for his messages, he would memorize his passage of Scripture so that he wouldn’t be a distraction whenever he stood to preach or teach. We were worshiping with them one Sunday and during our singing I looked over at him. He was holding his copy of God’s Word and clutching it close to his heart as he sang. He would pat the Bible with his hand as he sang. I remember how that impacted me. This man had such a love for God and His Word, that he would go to great lengths to read, study, preach and teach the Word.
In our lesson this week, Moses is reminding the people of God to honor His statutes and judgments. He reminds them to listen to them and to act accordingly. He also reminds them to not add to or take away from God’s Word. In other words, God’s Word is sacred and it’s not to be tampered with.
That is certainly a reminder for believers today as we seek to live in a culture and world that is quickly shifting and changing. God’s Word never changes. Joshua 1:7 tells us, “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.” Revelation 22:18-19 also gives us a strong warning. It says, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
The Apostle Paul reminded young Timothy in II Timothy 4:2-5, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
Make the Word of God an important part of your day along with prayer. Remember, it’s all about relationship. It’s about our relationship with the lover of our souls. Our Heavenly Father has given us His Word. We honor Him when we listen to, follow, and teach His Word.
