The Bible Speaks

Rev. Clevis O. Laverty
December 9, 1956

What does God want to say to us this week. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not confusing my words with God's word. I do not stand in this pulpit on a Sunday morning and give profound dissertations on my own particular brand of theology. I am only attempting to bring to life and amplify the scriptures contained in this book. What God wants to say is contained within its covers.

I used to go down into the Yukatan in southern Mexico quite regularly. It was a stifling, hot, dry, barren land in which it is not at all comfortable to walk very far or very fast. They tell me that even further to the south of this land, a Chol Indian trudged up a steep, dusty trail under a blazing tropical sun that can shrivel the skin right on to your bones. This Indian went to the missionary's hut with an urgent message from the small congregation in his village, two days away in the steaming jungle lowlands.

He told the missionary that on the previous Sunday, none of the lay preachers had come to his town. He said that the congregation was concerned that perhaps no one would come the following week. So they had sent him to find out if someone would be coming and if not, they wanted the missionary to explain to him the lesson for the next Sunday because, as the young man said: “We desire to know what God wants to say to us this week.” To these Chol believers the word of God speaks to them today and they are eager to hear it. Ten years ago, they were but a few scattered believers and now they have congregations. The are actually living through a period very reminiscent of the New Testament times of a growing church, of little opportunity to hear and read the Word, and of persecutions by their own people. Here we do not have to worry about long arduous trails. Everyone in town lives within a mile of church, and the way is easy. BUT how many people in Cape Porpoise desire to know what God wants to say to them this week. Probably everyone: the [number] here and the rest are at home reading their bibles.

The Bible speaks, but what does it say and to whom? For a great many people, the Bible does not seem to have a message for our times. They regard this book as belonging to another time, another age, and to a different culture. Here, surrounded by the gadgetry and mechanical things of our world, they do not seem to understand how these peasants, shepherds, fishermen, and kings of long ago can communicate to them. The reject the suggestion that anything can be gained by reading books written by an ancient Greek physician who knew nothing about modern antibiotics or feel that they can profit by the letters written by a converted Pharisee who was unacquainted with modern methods of psychology. But except for the superficial physical differences of a speeded up, atomic age, we are essentially no different than those who went before us thousands of years ago.

We have invented new machines but we have no invented any new sins. Our heads perhaps contain more facts, but our hearts still contain the same worries and selfish concerns. If we will read the scriptures with a picture of modern life in our mind, we will see our present day mirrored on every page, from the account of the irresponsible Cain who slew his brother out of cruel jealousy to the story of Ananias and Sapphira who tried to use deception to gain favor and prestige. It is not limited to individuals either. It tells of entire nations, from the people of Babel who thought they could storm the gates of heaven to the rebellion and destruction of Armageddon. Even the man who thinks he can hide his sins beneath the mask of the religious profession will find men just like him depicted in the scriptures—from Balaam who accepted money to prophecy against Israel to Simon of Samaria who thought he could purchase the gift of the Holy Spirit. So if we wish to find the roots of personal delinquency, national rebellion, or religious racketeering, we will find a very up-to-date account of it here in the Bible.

Let us look a little further and see why the Bible speaks to us today as always. One reason is that man is the same today as he has been. But the Bible does not only tell us of man's unbelievable capacity for sin and self-deception; it also portrays his capability to respond to his Creator's love and will.

Here in this one book we find accost of Enoch who walked with God and men and women who answered the call of God: Abraham who went where he was sent and prospered; Moses who was selected to lead hi people out of bondage; David who directed a people to God; Isaiah who saw and enlightened his people; Esther who came to the Kingdom for such a time; Mary who in worship anointed the feet of Jesus; Peter a man of audacious faith and Paul a persecutor of the Church who learned glory in his new found Lord. These were everyday men and women from all walks of life, herdsmen, officials, kings, queens, housewives, fishermen, scholars, and preachers who learned to love God because He first loved them.

But if we think this is all in the long ago and that God does not manifest His power today, we are mistaken. There is the experience of Valentin Dorantes who was seized by religious fanatics as he went from door to door in a small town in central Mexico offering the scriptures from this Bible to anyone who wanted to read the story of God's love. Dorantes was dragged to the rear of a home where at gun point he was forced to dig his own grave. But rather than lament his fate and abuse his captors, he told them how he too had hated Christians until one day he discovered the meaning of life in the New Testament. He asked them if he might read to them these words of the Savior. He did and the threatening scowls slowly changed to astonishment as he read. When Dorantes stopped, the leader said: “We have never heard such words before; come into the house and tell us more.” This my friends is not ancient history, this happened recently. Throughout time, men have continued to say: “No man ever spoke as this man.”

Now the scriptures speak to us today not only because man is the same but because God is the same. I think we all agree to this in theory but tend to deny it in practice. I think we agree that God led the people of Israel out of Egypt but think that the same God is unable to resolve the troubles of today. Also, we see that God did not spare His people, the Jews, when they sinned, but we like to think that He cannot afford to let anything happen to us. At times, we cry that God is helpless to do anything about this world and in the same breath, reassure ourselves that god is too dependent on us to transfer His favor to anyone else. However, God is still the same and continues to speak by His Spirit and through His Word and His Witnesses.

The Bible speaks to us today because man is the same, God is the same, and God's redemptive plan is the same. At the beginning of this century, educators, psychologists, and social planners thought they could get together and remake man in such a way as to make God's plan of redemption obsolete. A series of wars, concentration camps, forced labor, crime and a seething unrest in the world have convinced all but the most naive that God was right from the beginning about man's need for redemption. You do not just reeducate a man; he must become a new creature in Christ. “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved” is not an idle saying; it is the very heart of the Good News.

You perhaps have noticed, maybe wondered, that on a Sunday morning I have not been in the habit of proclaiming your sins and telling you of the wrong things that you do as so many preachers are wont to do. Let me tell you a little story. About a century ago, some Rhenish missionaries went to preach to the cannibalistic Bataks of Sumatra with almost fatal results. They were so impressed by the prevalence of violence, drunkenness, stealing, and immorality that they concerned their teaching with the denunciation of Batak's sins. When the few months that the Batak king had allotted had passed they were politely invited to leave. The king said that the missionaries had not told the Bataks anything that they did not already know. All the Bataks knew they were bad. Then the missionaries realized that they had failed to tell the real Good News that God was in Christ reconciling the world and that as many as received Him he gave the power to become children of God.

I am not even here inferring that you are all bad, you are not, but you do know your own sins a whole lot better than I do. All I can do is bring the Good News from the scriptures.

Finally the Word of God does speak to living men and women, and when we get into the scriptures, we find these truths. We discover we cannot argue with it. We have to read it as a child. We can try to talk back but it keeps right on speaking to our hearts. Then we might find something we did not know about forgiveness. It seems easy enough for God to forgive but hard to be forgiven. God forgives and says go and sin no more. Then the realization that we shall never be closer to God than this book brings us.

This same God who revealed himself in human flesh has sought to communicate with us. The Bible speaks today because God speaks today, in and through His Word.