Foundational Themes

1. God’s purpose in creating was that we might share his glory (Isa 43:7; Rev 4:11).
2. This is described as human beings “seeing God;” “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Revelation 22:3-4 ESV cf. Matt 5:8; 1 Cor 13:12; Heb 12:14; 1 John 2:2-3).
3. The world and humanity were created as a sort of mirror to reflect the glory of God in everything (Cf. Isa 6:3).
4. When humanity sinned and “fell short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) it was no longer possible for there to be a direct vision of God; the LORD said to Moses, “          “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.””(Exodus 33:20 ESV)
5. The mirrors of humanity, nature, conscience and history are now all tarnished and broken so that God’s true character is unseen (Gen 6:5-6; Rom 8:20; Tit 1:15).
6. The scriptures are inspired by God for the purpose of revealing his true character in his dealings with humanity through history. These dealings climaxed in the coming of Jesus. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance / reflection of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:1-3 ESV)
7. Jesus is the perfect mirror image of the Father; “he is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15 cf. John 14:9; 2 Cor 4:4).
8. The Bible functions to its readers and hearers as a mirror here on earth reflecting through the agency of the Spirit of God the glory that is in Jesus.
9. This means that the Bible has authority in our lives because it testifies to us about Christ.

Introduction

A: My Personal Experience

1. My commitment to the importance of scripture in the individual and communal Christian life comes first of all from personal experience.
2. Coming from a basic non-believing background I found myself at 21 years of age in a pit of depression (Psalm 88:6-7 ESV). I could find no meaning to life and everything was joyless (Job 14:1-2 ESV). I reasoned that if life were to be meaningful there would need to be life after death, this would require a miracle, only God could work miracles, the Bible was about God, so I should read the Bible some time.
3. By divine provision a Bible came unexpectedly into our house from neighbours the next day.
4. As I started to read the Bible I had a strong inner sense it would answer my questions. I read the scriptures through several times in the next 9 months and came under huge conviction in two main areas. Firstly, that God had always loved me and that I had never loved him. Secondly, the fear of hell dominated my thoughts from my first waking moment. This was a terrible and unforgettable experience: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”(Hebrews 10:31 ESV); “for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29 ESV); “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Rev 14:11).
5. By the stage I approached a Christian group at the university to ask how to become a Christian I could quote dozens of verses by heart. The Bible therefore has performed a foundational role in my coming to faith in Christ.

Questions for Discussion

1. Do you agree that the love of God and the fear of God are the two great biblical themes to motivate us?
2. In your experience of the Church in Australia, is there an imbalance of teaching on these two topics?

B: Observations of Church Life in Australia Today

1. At the church where I first attended everyone brought their Bibles with them to follow the preaching. With other young people I was passionate about the scriptures. I summarised the Bible for myself, wrote out many scriptures to memorise, taped my own voice reading verses I wanted to know off by heart etc.
2. Over the decades since then I have noticed a sharp decline in biblical use and understanding across much of the Australian Church.
3. Today Bible reading has reached crisis levels, with only 19% of church attendees reading the Bible daily or on most days; 12% read the Bible a few times a week, 5% once a week, 27% occasionally and 37% hardly ever or never! http://globalrecordings.net/en/321
4. There have been a range of suggested explanations for this phenomenon: preachers have been too intellectual, pastors have focussed on getting results rather than biblical truth, messages have been motivational rather than based on scripture, the Bible has been used in an authoritarian and hypocritical way etc. http://www.sightmagazine.com.au/stories/sight-seeing/literacy9.2.11.php
5. Within many church services the focus has been taken away from biblical exposition and placed on “worship” i.e. singing and heightened emotional experiences. This is a symptom of a cultural shift away from God and community to obsession with oneself (ego, narcissism).
6. In the current cultural climate many Christians relate to God, spirituality, church, Bible, etc. to improve their personal happiness and prosperity. This means placing ourselves before the Lord rather than vice versa. Jesus challenged us,

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35 ESV)

7. The crucial question is this, “Is life about my story with a place for Jesus, or Jesus’ story with a place for me?”  The decline in discipleship and holiness in the Australian Church is a direct result of a failure to see that all our stories belong to Jesus.
8. This means that many Christians today have an identity problem; they do not understand who they are “in Christ”. Jesus said, “the servant does not know what his master is doing” (John 15:15). If believers in Jesus live as servants rather than sons they will not understand what God is doing in their daily lives, they will become confused and turn away from the strength that is available in God’s Word. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:23-25 ESV)
9. The Bible functions as a mirror that the Holy Spirit uses to explain to us what God is doing in our lives to make us more like Christ.
10. Weakness in the Word is a symptom of losing touch with the story of Jesus.

Questions for Discussion

1. Is the general decline in Bible reading happening in your part of the Christian community?
2. What do you think is the main cause for laziness in reading the scriptures?

C: Jesus and the Word of God

1. The scriptures emphasise the priority of Jesus in everything; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-3, 14 ESV)[1]; “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might have first place .” (Colossians 1:16-18 ESV)
2. This means that the Word of God must be understood in terms of Jesus identity[2]
3. Jesus said, ““You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.”” (John 5:39)
4. From beginning to end Christ lived his life in the consciousness that he was fulfilling scripture. In his first sermon he said, ““Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.””(Luke 4:21 ESV); concerning his teaching and mission he explained, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Matthew 5:17 ESV); his submission to arrest and death was an obedience to God’s Word, ““Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”” (Mark 14:49 ESV cf. Luke 22:37). Even in his dying moment Christ was conscious of completing scripture, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), “I thirst.”” (John 19:28 ESV)
5. To be “Strengthened in the Word of God” involves seeking to understand how Jesus himself was strengthened by scripture to complete the call and will of God in his life.
6. This understanding is foundational, because Jesus will disciple us in the way he was discipled by the Father; “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:10)[3]
7. What is first formed by the Father through his Word and Spirit in the life of Jesus is passed on to us to make us better disciples. E.g. Hebrews teaches us that Jesus is “the founder and perfecter of faith” (12:2). Through the scriptures Christ imparts and shares a growing measure of his perfect faith into our hearts. (“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”(Romans 10:17 ESV))

Questions for Reflection

1. Do most of the people who attend your church “search the scriptures” (John 5:39; Acts 17:11) to find an answer to their problems or to find Jesus?
2. Some preachers say that they believe the Bible is the Word of God, and that Jesus is the Son of God, but they seem to lack Christ-like authority in their sermons. How would you explain this?

D: The Word in the Life of Jesus

a.  Beginning and Baptism

1. God’s plan of salvation was to restore the glory of his lost image to humanity (Rom 3:23; Col 3:10). This required the Son of God to “empty himself” of the eternal glory of oneness with the Father so that he might fully become a human being (Phil 2:7; John 17:5).
2. The plan of the Father was to use his Word in the life of the earthly Jesus to restore his perfect likeness in humanity (John 14:9 cf. Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4). Jesus’ sense of personal identity was imparted through the scriptures and the voice of God, this gave him great joy as he delighted in a sense of who he was in the Father’s image.
3. For Jesus’ Sonship to be “made perfect” (Heb 2:10; 5:9) the Word of God needed to indwell (be internalised) in Jesus’ life at deeper and deeper levels. This process is completed through a number of phases in Christ’s life.
4. As a child Christ is aware that God is his Father (Luke 2:49), but the baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of a new and public revelation of his identity.
5. “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.””(Luke 3:21-22 ESV). All the details of this event are a fulfilment of Old Testament scriptures. Of central importance in understanding the role of scripture in strengthening Jesus are the words of the Father.
6. “You are my beloved Son” echoes God’s word to the Messiah in Psalm 2:7, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” The psalm continues with a promise of universal reign,“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Psalm 2:8 ESV). God’s words also recall his command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, “take your beloved Son, whom you have loved, Isaac….and offer him…” (Gen 22:22)[4]. This unprecedented combination of passages pictures a Messiah whose strength to rule will come through suffering.
7.  The closing phrase, “with you I am well pleased” is drawn from Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him;…”. This is part of a sequence of passages that climax in the death and triumph of the Servant of the LORD (Isa 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13 – 53:12).
8. The conclusion is inescapable; the Father is full of pleasure in the Son because he is willing to enter into his inheritance as ruler of the nations through obedient suffering[5].
9. From this episode of baptism we can conclude that the scriptures were used as a sort of mirror in the life of Jesus in which he saw his identity before God. As he grew in understanding of who he was and God’s call on his life Jesus was more and more intensely indwelt by the glory of the Father.
10. At the time of his baptism Jesus is filled to overflowing by the outpouring of the Spirit and his whole being is saturated with joy. Since the scripture proclaims, “the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Neh 8:10), Christ is now empowered in the joy of God for what lies before him. The story moves immediately into the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness.

Questions for Discussion

1. Does the scripture function like a mirror for us in which we like Jesus can see who we truly are?[6]
2. Why did the Spirit take Jesus away from people after his baptism, rather than leading him directly into public ministry.

1. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him…” (Matthew 4:1-3 ESV). As the story progresses, it becomes clear that God’s purpose in taking Jesus into the desert is to perfect the unity between the Spirit and the Word in Christ through his costly obedience.
2. After 40 days without food Jesus is very weak, Satan’s first point of contact is his most strategic attack, “And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.””(Matthew 4:3 ESV)[7].
3. Weakened and hungry, Jesus replies to Satan by using God’s Word, “But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”(Matthew 4:4 ESV). As the Father had delighted in him as a Son at his baptism, Jesus now shows he delights in the Father, no matter what the personal cost.
4. Jesus rebukes to Satan deliberately repeat the words God had spoken to the Israelites in the wilderness (Matt 4:4, 7, 10 quoting Deut 8:3; 6:16; 6:13). Though Israel was God’s “first-born son” (Ex 4:22-23) it failed to obey these words, and perished in the desert. Unlike Adam in Eden and the Israelites in the desert Jesus lives the truth that “scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35 cf. Num 23:19; Heb 6:17-18). He internalises the Word of God in his own life.
5. This is why we read of Jesus’ manifest triumph, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” (Luke 4:14-15 ESV).
6. Having kept God’s Word under trial Jesus was inwardly powerful in God’s Spirit; as a fully obedient and guiltless Son who had never broken God’s Word, he could confidently say that Satan has “nothing in me” (John 14:30).
7. The final test of Jesus faithfulness to God’s word must come through the cross.

1. Gethsemane represents a crisis of obedience to the command of God in the life of Jesus. He is so overwhelmingly weak that he says, ““My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38 ESV)[8].
2. In fulfilling the prophetic word of being “despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;” (Isaiah 53:3 ESV) Christ feels utterly unable to take “the cup” of God’s wrath for us and believes that he may die there and then in the Garden (Ps 75:8; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15ff; lam 4:21; Hab 2:16; Zech 12:2).
3. It is at the moment when the Son of God is most intimately conscious of God as Father that he feels totally unable to obey; ““Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.”  In the end he faithfully submits to the will of God, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36 ESV)
4.  Jesus knows that on the cross he will be “crucified in weakness” to such a depth that all intimate knowledge of the Father must perish (2 Cor 13:4).
5. The climax of the anguish of the cross comes when the Son cries out, ““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34 ESV).
6. It seems as if the divine promise, “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” (Prov 30:5) is utterly false and that the union established between God and humanity from the beginning by his creative Word is totally broken (Gen 1:3ff; Heb 11:3).
7. This is not a crisis in physical or mental strength, but one that goes to the very heart of God’s own identity as a Father, for the ever obedient Word made flesh is totally weakened in his experience of Sonship (Heb 5:8; John 1:14)[9].
8. This is not because of any fault on Christ’s part, but because he is carrying the guilt of the world and the absolute powerlessness or right of fallen humanity to call God “Father”. Jesus takes upon himself the total spiritual inability of sinful humanity; “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6).
9. “It is not as though the word of God failed” (Rom 9:6), but Jesus is carrying in himself all the failures of mankind to fulfil God’s commands.
10. If the crisis of the crucifixion is God’s word of “No” to rebellious people, the resurrection is his proclamation of “Yes”. “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”(2 Corinthians 1:19-20 ESV)
11. The resurrection meant for Jesus the final and complete strengthening of the “imperishable seed” of the “living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet 1:23). In Jesus, God’s word and command is beyond all testing, tempting, breaking or damaging. Having done the will of God Jesus is the Son who abides forever in the kingdom of his Father (John 8:35; Heb 7:28; 1 John 2:17). He ministers the Word to us in the strength of knowing he is exactly conformed to the image and likeness of his heavenly Father.

Questions for Discussion

1. The (Greek) word for Jesus “cry” from the cross (Mark 15:34) and our “cry, “Abba! Father!””(Rom 8:15) are the same. Can such a cry be ignored by God?
2. How is Romans 1:4, “and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Romans 1:4 ESV) connected to our topic, “Strengthened in the Word of God”?

What About Us?

1. If Jesus can only disciple us in the same way as he was discipled by the Father (John 15:10), then the pattern he announced to his first followers, ““If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” (John 8:31-32 ESV) also applies to us.
2. How then do we “abide in his word” so that what he says in scripture and how he communicates to us daily becomes internalised as part of our lives?
3. The only way for “the word of Christ to dwell in us richly” (Col 3:16) is to exist by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord Jesus. This means to have the attitude that the meaning of our very existence is found in faithfully hearing and obeying God’s Word.
4. To abide in the Word is to enter into the relationship between the Father and the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.” (1 John 2:24 cf. 4:15); “Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9)
5. As Jesus increasingly loved the Word that made him more and more perfectly the image of the Father, we love the word of Christ as it progressively makes us more and more like Jesus (Rom 8:29; Col 3:10).
6. The pattern by which this transformation takes place is always one of death to self and new life in Christ; crucifixion and resurrection. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV)
7. This is a theme repeated many times throughout scripture, from Israel’s trials in the wilderness (Deut 8) to her exile and return from Babylon, the narrative of Job, the structure of the Gospels, the theme of the book of Revelation etc. Suffering and triumph is the story line of the Bible.
8. Paul teaches this consistently; “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10 ESV) “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV); “For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.” (2 Corinthians 13:4 ESV); “We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honour and dishonour, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” (2 Corinthians 6:3-10 ESV)
9. Ultimately, a Christian is strengthened in the Word when they see it as a mirror of the power of the death and resurrection of Christ that God is applying to their lives on a daily basis (Phil 3:10). “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 ESV)

Questions for Discussion

1. How is it possible for someone to say, “I love Jesus” but then admit they don’t read the Bible regularly?
2. Share a time when like Paul you expected to die (2 Cor 1:8-10). How did this experience help you to go deeper into the Word of God and the Word of God go deeper into you?  Is the power of that experience still real in your life today?
3.  The author of Hebrews says the faithful witnesses of the past “were made strong out of weakness” (Heb 11:34). Do people today simply want to escape weakness, rather than grow strong through weakness?