Starving for Truth (2)

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Daniel 9.3

Marks of faith
Historically, Protestants have identified as first among the marks of a true church, regular and faithful preaching of the Word of God. By this standard, it would seem, we in the contemporary evangelical Church may rejoice and give thanks for the abundant opportunities for the hearing of the Word of God that we presently enjoy.

But surely there is a difference between opportunities for hearing the Bible and actually hearing it. In this regard, it is just possible that we may have misunderstood our Protestant forebears with respect to the marks of the true church, and have become too easily satisfied with a lesser standard than they intended.

John Calvin, for example, described this most important mark of a true church in this way: “From this the face of the church comes forth and becomes visible to our eyes. Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard…” (Institutes, IV.i.9, emphasis added). Calvin believed, rightly, that the “face of the church” should be visible in its community, with a mien radiant with the image of Jesus Christ. For Calvin, the mere availability of the Word, even “purely preached,” was no guarantee that such a church would appear. In his view, opportunities for hearing provide no assurance that real hearing of the Word occur. The Word must be truly heard, that is, received in such a way that it bears fruit in the lives of those who hear it.

The marks of the church, Calvin wrote – that is, faithful preaching and hearing of the Word – “can never exist without bringing forth fruit and prospering by God’s blessing” (Institutes, IV.i.10). Where the Word is truly heard, it bears fruit in the lives of those who hear it, and where that is happening, a true church can be rightly discerned.

What kind of fruit?
But what kind of fruit? What were Calvin and the other reformers expecting from the faithful preaching and hearing of the Word of God in the churches of the Reformation?

Here we cannot cull their writings for detailed answers. Instead, following their lead, we will let the Word of God itself speak to us. What does the Bible expect of those who hear the Word of God? For what kinds of responses should we be looking from our teaching of Scripture?

We may identify several, but the first among the fruit to expect of those who truly hear the Word of God, is repentance. Even the prophet Daniel, who stands out among the giants of Biblical characters with respect to personal piety, fell to profound and passionate expressions of repentance for himself and his nation upon reading in the book of Jeremiah concerning the end of Israel’s captivity in Babylon (Dan. 9.1-5). In his prayer of repentance, we see a man broken before the faithfulness and grace of God to an undeserving people, a man not in the least reluctant to apply Israel’s wickedness to himself and to exert himself in dramatic and outspoken declarations of repentance, pleading with God to restore favor to His people.

Daniel read the Word of God. Daniel heard the Word of God. And Daniel repented. Where the Word of God is truly heard, repentance is the first fruit.

Absence of repentance
We evangelicals have established a place of prominence for ourselves in this society by our penchant for declaiming loudly against the sins of others. We have denounced the secular humanists, chastised the evolutionists, decried the postmodernists, and raged against the immoral practices of the people of our day.

Yet we hear little such passion in the acknowledgment of our own sins before the God of judgment and mercy – sins of complacency, failure in mission, poor stewardship, ecclesiastical in-fighting, and a host of others.

This absence of repentance suggests to me that we in the Christian community are starving for truth. We have descended into a famine of hearing God’s Word. For all our reading and study, the clean, pure, true, and uncompromising Word of God is not breaking through to our sinful hearts. Some of the most profound and moving words of repentance in the history of Biblical religion are from the mouths and pens of the great saints of God: David’s plea in Psalm 51; Augustine’s Confessions; the meditations of Christian mystics; the great liturgies of the high church tradition; the writings of the Puritan fathers, the tears of multitudes, awakened in times of revival

Here is heartfelt repentance in response to the clear teaching of God’s Word concerning our wretchedness, God’s holiness, and our infinite need of renewing grace. It is just such repentance that is lacking within the evangelical church in our day, and that shows just how in danger we are of spiritual starvation.

For reflection
1.  What’s the difference between opportunities for hearing the Word of God and actually hearing it?

2.  What is repentance? Who needs to repent? When?

3.  Why is repentance necessarily the first indication that the Word of God has been truly heard?

Next steps – Conversation: What is repentance? When is it needed? How does one practice repentance? What should we expect where true repentance exists? Get some Christian friends together and talk about these questions. Consider together what place repentance should have in your own walk with the Lord, and how you might help your church understand the importance of it.

T. M. Moore

This week’s series, Starving for Truth, is available as a free PDF download, for personal or group use. Click here.

How’s your overall grasp of the narrative of Scripture? How confident are you that you know how to get the most out of the Bible? Our course, Introduction to Biblical Theology, can shore up your confidence and lead you to a deeper appreciation of God’s Word. It’s free and online, and you can study at your own pace or with a friend. For more information and to register, click here.

We welcome Mike Slay’s column, The Deep, to our subscription list. Here is another Biblical study resource to enhance your understanding of God’s Word. To subscribe, go to the pop-up at www.ailbe.org.

The work of The Fellowship of Ailbe is supported by those who benefit from and believe in our ministry. Add us to your regular prayer list, and seek the Lord concerning whether He would have you share with us. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the contribute buttonat the website, or send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.