“A TWO EDGED
SWORD”
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A sermon preached Readings: Hebrews 4:12-16, Luke 22:39-53 |
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![[KH0043]](z049_files/image002.jpg)
Hebrews 4.12
For the word of God is living and
active. Sharper than any double-edged sword.
Week of Prayer for World Peace
Today
marks the start of the Week of Prayer for World Peace -
when traditionally members of the world’s different faiths
meditate on or offer prayers for the peace of the world.
This
year we still have fresh in our minds Friday’s
TV news coverage from Westminster Abbey.
The grim faces of politicians and the military,
flanked by grieving wives and parents and children,
there to remember the dead of the Iraq War.
It was not – thankfully – a time to glorify war,
but rather to reflect on its consequences,
to remember the dead of Iraq as well as those of the invading armies.
There
are differing views on the Iraq war here.
But whatever our individual views on the war–
and there has been little in the past few weeks to reassure the doubters
amongst us –
we all know that the sword is
·
at the very best a necessary evil
and a partial solution to the
world’s troubles –
·
at worst the sword is an unnecessary evil
and part of the problem not the
solution.
When
well intentioned disciples
(and those taking up arms are so often well intentioned)
took out their swords in Gethsemane,
Jesus told them to stop –
the implication was clear –
his armoury contained things more powerful than cold steel.
So to the anonymous author of the letter to the
Hebrews –
who says that the Word of God is more powerful and incisive
than the sharpest two edged sword.
The Sword of the
Word: Judgement
I want us to reflect this morning about that
spiritual sword –
not the cold steel of the battlefield but that more powerful,
more incisive sword, the Word of God.
God speaks his Word to every generation – and speaks
in many ways
·
He can speak through the everyday events of
life –
as he spoke to Amos through a plumb
line,
Noah with a Rainbow.
·
He can speak through the stirrings of
conscience.
·
He can speak through the words and actions of
others
·
He can speak to us as he did to the boy
Samuel
through the inner voice
·
But most powerfully for us as Christians
we would learn of God’s Word through
Scripture.
As with Iraq, so with our understanding of the
Bible,
you will find in this congregation a range of views.
·
Some may
wish to say that the Bible and the Word of God are identical –
i.e. the Bible is God’s infallible utterance.
·
Many of us would rather say that the Bible is
an inspired but human book
subject to the errors of its writers.
The Word of God is not the same as the Bible –
rather it is to be sought and discerned within the pages of the Bible.
But either way – and this is the important
thing –
the powerful incisive Word of God is to be found in Scripture.
But beware.
Here is the health warning on the Bible –
“Reading this book may seriously alter your life.”
Once the Word of God is working in your life,
you may not be able to control it,
any more than you can control a lunging rapier striking at your heart.
I remember once going into a shop to buy some
late Christmas presents.
I came across a book with the title on the cover:
“Under no circumstances open this book”
It was just too tempting – I had to see what was inside.
No one was near, so I just sneaked a look inside the front cover.
But as I did so, I realized it was a joke novelty book-shaped jack in the
box.
As I lifted the cover, something on a spring jumped out with a great loud
noise.
Everyone looked round – and though I tried to look innocent and uninvolved,
I could see the shop assistants thinking –
“There’s another one who couldn’t resist opening the book”
That’s what can happen when you open the Bible –
The Word of God can jump out at you.
Do you remember learning
grammar at school –
you recall the bit about the difference between the subject and object of a
sentence ––
The Subject is the one that does things, the Object is the one who has things
done to them.
The Word of God is always the subject of the
sentence.
We of course are used to controlling
words.
At the click of a mouse I access huge quantities of words.
I download, edit, store, and (often deliberately, occasionally in error)
delete great swathes of words.
Or if we are still working with old technology,
we take papers out our pocket, read them, file them,
put them back in our pocket or bin them.
Words are the disposable chattels of modern society
But you can’t deal with God’s Word like that.
The Word of God is not a data file to be manipulated.
Nor is it a piece of paper we can put in our pocket.
The Word of God (says Hebrews) is living and active -
if you let it loose in your life –
is like a sharp sword driving right to the heart of your being.
It will be the subject not the object of the sentence.
When God speaks to you, there is nowhere to hide and
you can’t say
“I’ll deal with that another day”.
God is looking us in the eyes and skewering us
with the point of his incisive Word
When God addresses you,
he slices through all that stuff you put up to hide your true self
and your failings from the world – and from yourself.
He sees you for what you are and calls you by name –
and in naming you he names you as you are –
with all your sins and
sorrows seen and understood
as quickly and cleanly as a rapier thrust to the soul.
There is a legend which
says that Martin Luther
once had a fight with the devil
and ended up throwing a pot of ink at the devil.
Only
a legend – but probably one with a basis in fact –
the fact that Luther did say
“I have driven the devil away with ink” –
a reference not to throwing an inkwell
but to his translation of the New Testament into his native German.
Luther knew this was not just a book on the
shelf –
as it rolled off the new printing presses
it was a powerful weapon against evil let loose in the world.
So beware when you let God speak –
he will go like a sword straight to the heart of your being, and
that which is evil in you will be exposed and seen for what it is.
“For
the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword,
it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”
The Sword of the
Word: Love
But note – the Word of God is
a two edged sword –
and why does the writer specify that kind of sword?
We
don’t know, but maybe he is reminding us
that when the sword of God opens up our lives there are two things going on –
complementary opposites – there is judgement and there is love.
When
I am struck by the sword of God’s Word,
I am judged for what I am. But I am
also loved.
God’s
Word is like a healing laser ray cutting out the canker in my soul.
The sword of God’s love sees my sins, condemns them
and in that same moment destroys their power –
And
if that is the pain of judgement-
the pain of having to recognize my sin and the pain I have caused God –
it is a pain which is not destructive and vindictive – it is redemptive.
For
our spiritual exercise this week, maybe we could seek out
those we hate or despise, and see them rather as God sees us.
This is part of a piece by Virginia Thesiger.
She has read a bit in the daily paper
about a heinous and callous criminal
and is looking at the picture of this thug
and wondering how to respond:
“How can I love you, young man,
When I read of the things you have done,
When I look at your dissolute face
staring at me from the papers.
Let me first cleanse my heart of the pain,
Let me first empty my mind of the horror,
Let there be God and nothing but God
in my thought let there be
peace.
Then I can look at your face and love
the man that is really you,
The man God made in the image and likeness
of all that is good and true.
Love, God’s love is not anodyne
But active, powerful and strong:
Like a sword, young man it will cut out your sin
And into the wound pour pity and hope…”
[From Interpreted by Love,
Elizabeth Bassett, DLT, 1994, p.83]
This is the power of the God’s
Sword –
to open up, like a surgeon to diagnose and expose,
to split and dissect muscle and bone -
not in vengeance but only to heal and to love.
This
is the sword which we too may wield in God’s name.
Today
we our young people’s workers are to rededicate themselves.
They
will be coming in with the children shortly.
But we are all God’s children and we are all called to care for each other –
In
God’s power to confront the other,
to search out their inner being,
and to respond in love.
When
we are with the soldiers in Gethsemane,
remember Martin Luther King’s description of non violence
as the “Sword that heals”.
This is the powerful sword of God –
Before which the forces of evil –
be
they Satan in Luther’s study
or
racists in Alabama
or
the evil in my life or yours –
shall be exposed and
purged by love.
May that sword cleanse my life and yours -
And may we wield it fearlessly in God’s name -
So in conclusion, Lord, we pray two things,
(1) Lord,
open my life to the sword of your Word,
that it may strike me and
cleanse me and make me anew
in the power of God’s
love.
And then (2) Now Lord,
“Bring
me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire;
Bring me my Spear: O clouds, unfold:
Bring me my Chariot of Fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land”
[William Blake]