But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Matthew 22:29
“There is no hunger for the Word of God there.” This is the explanation we heard regarding why someone was leaving a church. They further said that the preaching was not unbiblical and there were plenty of opportunities to serve in ministry. But, among the people, there was no hunger for His Word and no striving to please God.
This conversation came back to my mind when I read a quote from Martin Luther that he said to Erasmus (described as a “Christian humanist” and considered a great scholar of the 1500’s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus). Luther told him, “Your thoughts of God are too human.”
Though the Lord has left us a Book that we can read and study, we have abandoned its truths for our own human picture of who God is.
We do not think that a God who will “have mercy on whom He will have mercy” or a God who clearly lays out what is moral and immoral, what is right and what is wrong, is a “fair” God. We decide what we would like in a god and we adopt those “truths” as what we believe.
In Acts 20 when Paul was addressing the Ephesian elders, knowing he would never see them again, he was preparing them for future challenges in the church. He testified that he “did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Further, because of that he knew he was innocent of “the blood of all.”
In other words, he would not be responsible for those who refused the Gospel. It would not be because they had not heard it from Paul.
When we read of Paul’s boldness, it’s easy to think that we are called to a very different kind of ministry. We do not have the wide influence that he had or the vast missionary calling.
Though our spheres of influence may be smaller, the expectation is quite similar. We are to be bold with the Word of God (and realize that Paul’s Word of God was the Old Testament). We are to speak freely and often of the goodness of the Lord, of His justice and His mercy, even His laws (Deuteronomy 6:6-8, Psalm 9:11; 35:28; 66:16; 78:4; 105:2; Mark 5:19).
I read a statistic that says only 11% of Christians have read the whole Bible – ever! Only 9% have read all of it more than once. This is a huge contributing factor to the lack of hunger for it. (https://lifewayresearch.com/2017/04/25/lifeway-research-americans-are-fond-of-the-bible-dont-actually-read-it/)
Christ promised us that after He left earth He would send us a Helper. In John 14:26 He says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
If we do not read God’s Word and hear solid doctrinal teaching from our pulpits, we have nothing for the Holy Spirit to bring to our remembrance. The more we read, the more He has to work with!
The big question is do we have a hunger for the Word of God (Amos 8:11-12)? Is our failure to be bold for God because of our failure to know God’s Word so that our thoughts of God are too human?