Some of you are familiar with David Letterman’s Top Ten List segment on The Late Show. One of the most recent of these lists was entitled “Top Ten Signs You’ve Received a Bad Flu Shot.” While such lists on The Late Show are meant to be humorous and entertaining, we could use the same format to address the more serious problem of our failure to abide in our Lord’s Word as we should. In today’s Gospel text Jesus says to those who believe in Him, “If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” To abide in Jesus’ Word is to remain in that Word, to keep it, to do it, to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. If we’re honest with ourselves, we will see just how often we fail at this, to the point where there are some days (some weeks or even months) where we don’t even crack open the Scriptures to read them, much less hold fast to them, meditate on them, or pray them. But what is it that keep us from doing these things? Today’s sermon will present the top ten reasons why we don’t abide in Christ’s Word as we should, and then what can be done to wipe out this list.
So, reason number 10: The “Once saved/always saved” excuse. Those who hold this position believe that it’s unnecessary to do what Jesus says here, because they’re going to go heaven either way. Though they may not be as knowledgeable in the Word as others are, that doesn’t phase these people. To know that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and rose again from the dead is enough for them. So long as they believe this, it doesn’t matter whether they ever read the Bible or darken the door of a church again, much less that they continue to hear their sins forgiven and dine at the Lord’s Table on a regular basis. Eternal life is theirs, whether it was because they invited Jesus into their hearts or because they got baptized, and He won’t leave, regardless of whether they abide in His Word or not.
Reason number 9: “We know all we need to know.” This is somewhat related to the “once saved/always saved” excuse, but here it’s more of a question of how much of Jesus’ Word we are willing to keep. The idiocy of this argument might be compared to a child telling his parents on Christmas day that he doesn’t want all the presents that they have bought for him; one or two of the more important ones will suffice. Those who hold this position regarding the Word of God are satisfied with what they have; they aren’t interested in receiving any more.
Reason number 8: Abiding in Jesus’ Word is not popular with the world. Those who hold this position are concerned about their reputation and what others will think about them. It isn’t popular to be a Christian who takes God’s Word too seriously. If you believe it at all, you should just keep it to yourself and definitely not hold to the position that Jesus is the world’s only Savior. You must be tolerant and accepting of other religions, rather than expose them as the lies and false ways to God that they are. Abiding in Christ’ Word is not a good way these days to make friends and influence people.
Reason number 7: Troubles and trials in our lives cause us to doubt the Word. Those who hold this position are disappointed with God, when it seems like He isn’t faithful to the promises He makes in His Word. Why is it, for example, that He teaches us to pray, “Deliver us from evil,” and yet He allows all kinds of bad things to happen to us? Why does He say things like, “Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place - the Most High, who is my refuge - no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” but then says that those who want to follow Him must deny themselves, pick up their cross, and get ready to suffer for His sake? Many Christians no longer abide in Christ’s Word, because they think He has failed and abandoned them, and trials and troubles are the evidence of this.
Reason number 6: The devil steals the Word from our hearts. Not only are we at fault for not keeping the Word ourselves, but we have an enemy from without who incessantly and tirelessly tries to take our Lord’s Word away from us. And yet we are not complete victims here, as we often fail to resist this enemy as we should. Our weapon against the devil is the Word of God. But if we haven’t been abiding in that Word, then we have nothing with which to fight him. We are defenseless, and we fall to him every time he attacks. He leads us into doubt and disbelief regarding the Word of God and gives us instead what our itching ears want to hear. Those who have been seduced into listening to Satan’s lies can no longer distinguish between the truth and error. Because they fail to abide in the Lord’s Word, they don’t know the truth and therefore remain slaves to sin, death, and the devil.
Reason number 5: The Word is too difficult to understand. Some Christians find reading the Scriptures to be too big of a challenge for them. They don’t abide in Christ’s Word, because it requires too much thinking, pondering, or digesting. They want milk but not meat. Instead of growing up and maturing in the Word, they’d rather remain babies. Such Christians fail to recognize that no part of Scripture is understandable apart from the aid of the Holy Spirit. He’s the Author of that Word, and He’s the one who gives understanding. But the Key He gives us is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the One who opens all Scripture to our understanding, as all Scripture speaks of Him. Without Him, the Bible remains a closed book. Christians who find the Word too difficult to understand should learn to find Christ there. The more they do that, the more they’ll understand it.
Reason number 4: We don’t have the interest. Sometimes the rationale behind our failure to abide in Christ’s Word is simply the fact that we are uninterested in doing so; we don’t want to abide in the Word. This position is akin to that of a child’s, when his parents tell him to eat his vegetables, because they’ll make him grow strong and healthy. But the child refuses, either because he isn’t hungry for them or because he knows they’ll taste bad. Sometimes we have this kind of attitude towards the Scriptures: either we aren’t hungry for them or we know they’ll taste bad. And the Word is not always a sweet Word. It contains both Law and Gospel. John experienced this when the angel in the book of Revelation told him to take and eat a scroll which had the Word of God written on it. John says, “And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.” We may not always like what the Word says, but it is given for us to eat, so that we might grow up in the Christian faith.
Reason number 3: We’re just too lazy; we just don’t have the motivation to abide in the Lord’s Word as we should. Like dumb animals who won’t budge unless prodded, nothing will move us to be in the Word of God like we should, unless something happens in our lives that impels us to do so. Whereas some Christians fall away from abiding in God’s Word when bad things happen, with other Christians the only time they will go to God’s Word is when something bad happens. Correspondingly, it’s during the tough times that we also seem to be motivated to pray more often and more urgently. But then, if you don’t know the Word, you don’t really know what you should be praying for.
Reason number 2: We don’t have the time. This is a big one and the reason it’s listed at the number 2 spot. It seems that we have time for everything else except for spending time in the Word. We’ll spend hours a day watching T.V., texting, or working on our computers, but we can’t seem to spend 5 minutes in the Word. Some can’t even set aside one hour a week on Sundays to come and hear the Word at church, while for others this is the only time of the week that we do give ourselves over to the hearing of the Word. In the end, it’s not that we don’t really have the time to abide in God’s Word; it’s that we don’t make the time to do so.
Which leads us to the final of the top ten reasons why we don’t abide in the Lord’s Word as we ought to, and that is because we are distracted by too many other things. From sports to entertainment to shopping to going out with friends, there are so many other things that we are involved in, so many other things that warrant our attention, so many other things that (let’s face it) are more fun than spending time in God’s Word, that we just don’t give ourselves over to the Word as we ought to. If abiding in our Lord’s Word falls on our “to do” list at all, it often comes last.
So, these are what I have labeled the top ten reasons for our failure to abide in the Word of God as we should, and yet I’m sure there are many more. This is in no way an exhaustive list! But what are we to do about it? Here we have Jesus’ words that if we abide in His Word we are truly His disciples, and we’ll know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Yet we all have to confess that we have sinned by falling in all ten of these ways (and many more), failing to abide in our Lord’s Word as we should. And if this is so, what kind of disciples of Jesus does that make us? Do we know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? And if not, are we truly free or still enslaved to sin, death, and the devil?
The first thing in erasing this list is to confess to our Lord that we are guilty of not having kept His Word as we should. For that we justly deserve to remain in ignorance of the truth and in bondage to our enemies. But secondly, Jesus tells us in His Word that He has died for all our sins, including that of failing to keep His Word as we should. He knows our frame, that we are but fallen sinful dust, entirely too weak to keep any of His commandments, let alone that of abiding in His Word. And so, He’s done for us what we could not do and kept the Word for us. He alone was the perfect disciple of the Word, perfectly holding it sacred and gladly hearing and learning it, praying it, doing it, and using it as a weapon against the devil and his temptations. Yet, Jesus also took on the form of a slave, in order to put Himself under the same yoke of bondage to sin, death, and the devil to which we were subject, so that He might break that yoke for us through His death and resurrection.
It’s now the proclamation of Him and His work for you that He gives you in His Word, so that you might know this truth and be free. To know Jesus is to know the truth, and you do know Him from His Word given to you. That Word tells you that Jesus has set you free from sin, death, and the power of the devil, which includes your failure to abide in His Word as you should. So, don’t despair. Hear His Word of forgiveness again today, and then by the power of the Holy Spirit “let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you.” Abiding in His Word is no burden, but is meant to give you rest. Receive that Word again here today as a child of our loving heavenly Father, and leave free and in peace for Christ’s sake. Amen.