8 minute read
Nurturing Your Faith
NURTURING YOUR FAITH: Spoken
Welcome to this Nurturing Your Faith Bible study on the power of spoken words. With your Bible and journal at the ready, begin reading below. After reading the commentary and studying the Word, you’ll be prompted to watch an application video online (but wait to access it until you are prompted to watch it). May God bless your study!
INTRODUCTION… The Power of Words.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!” Do you remember this saying? Maybe you remember saying it to classmates on the school playground after they said something to you, and you wanted to project strength in the face of pain. Even as you said it; even as we read it now, we know that it’s … just … not … true. Words can hurt us, can’t they? Words can help us, too. Words can shape our perceptions, our actions; they can start revolutions and inspire fights for justice. Words can create and redeem. There is great power in the spoken word.
Consider how spoken words can shape us. For instance, what impact have spoken words had on your relationships? For some of us, our relationship could have been much different with a child, parent, or spouse had we heard, “I’m sorry,” or “I’m proud of you,” or “I forgive you,” or “I love you.” Or had we said them ourselves … out loud. In some situations, spoken words could have made a world of difference. Words are not just words, particularly when they are spoken. Think about it: Why do we, in the Christian tradition, say out loud, in front of many witnesses, “I _____ take you _____ to be my lawfully wedded _____”? Because out loud matters. And when are they officially husband and wife? When the pastor says it out loud. Spoken words have power to shape relationships.
Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” oration in 1775 in Virginia, on the eve of the American Revolution, was the most influential speech in inspiring the war of independence against Britain. “I know not what course others may take,” Henry roared, “but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
Given in 1863 at the dedication of the Union Cemetery at the Gettysburg Battlefield, Abraham Lincoln’s two-minute remarks changed the meaning of the war and subsequently of American history, particularly regarding human equality and freedom. Lincoln insisted that the Declaration of Independence had founded a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against the injustices being fought against during the Civil Rights Movement. King’s voice resounded throughout the nation from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial: “With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”
Spoken words have shaped our relationships. Spoken words have shaped our nation. Spoken words have power. It seems this has been true since the beginning. After all, the creation of the world began with spoken words. …
LEARNING FROM THE WORD … First, read Genesis 1.
Words created the world. Okay, so God created the world, yes. But, how did He choose to create? As a result of what act did the lights and waters and people come into existence? You got it: spoken words. He could have fashioned it, wordless, like a silent sculptor, or painter, or carpenter. But He didn’t; He spoke words. And the words resulted in a series of “and it was so” cataclysmic moments. Spoken words … light! Spoken words … waters! Spoken words … people! This is noteworthy: spoken words are the medium by which His divine plan exploded into material existence.
Read on in the Old Testament to find that God’s voice plays a primary role in shaping the Israelites’ theology of God as Creator and King. One example, Psalm 29, records King David’s exhortation: “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (v. 2). In response to what attribute should we worship the Lord? His voice. He writes, the voice of the Lord: thunders (3), is powerful (4a), is majestic (4b), breaks cedars of Lebanon (5), strikes with flashes of lightning (7), shakes the desert (8), strips the forest bare (9).
This voice, David reminds us, is the voice of the Lord, “who sits enthroned as King forever” (v. 10). The power of God manifests via His voice, and consequently His people worship Him both as the One who created everything and as the One who sits enthroned over His creation. He spoke and He created; He is Creator. He speaks and rules over His creation; He is King.
REFLECTION QUESTION Where else in the Old Testament is the power of the voice of the Lord manifested?
LEARNING FROM THE WORD … Now, read Luke 5:17-26.
God, the Creator King, manifested His power and authority through spoken words (among other means). Jesus, God incarnate, manifested His power and authority through—you guessed it—spoken words. Scan Jesus’ entire ministry routine and it becomes abundantly clear that when Jesus spoke, things happened: demons scattered, disease faded, winds died down, death was interrupted.
Luke 5 records a representative account of Jesus speaking authoritatively to an astonished crowd. In this scene, Jesus uses speech to heal someone, a man with a physical ailment. “Get up” (24b) was all it took for the paralyzed man to experience freedom from this lifelong disability.
But this isn’t the only way Jesus’ words healed the man, right? In addition to His words bringing physical healing, His words provided spiritual healing, too. He simply says, “Friend, your sins are forgiven” (20), and he was forgiven. In fact, this speech-act is what got the Pharisees and teachers of the law riled up. And rightfully so. Only God can forgive sins, they argue. To speak authoritatively over paralysis is one thing; to speak authoritatively over sin was considered blasphemy (21).
Forgiveness came by a spoken word. Healing came by a spoken word.
Let’s reiterate the main thought, just to REFLECTION make sure we’re on the right track: words didn’t heal and forgive the man; Jesus did. QUESTION But, how did Jesus do so? Spoken words. How have the words Let’s connect the dots now: God the Father spoke creation into existence and reigns supreme with the kingly voice that thunders with authority over of Jesus served to renew your heart, mind, body, and/or soul? His creation. God the Creator and King has become a Man in Jesus (see John 1:1-14) who possesses unique authority. Like the Creator King, we see in Jesus’ ministry the central role authoritative speech plays in His ministry. By His words, demons scattered, disease faded, winds died down, death was interrupted.
What can we say now? God spoke and thereby created; Jesus spoke and thereby renewed creation. Jesus’ speech revealed His authority over evil, sickness, death, and all of creation which served to renew that which had been damaged by the fall: hearts, minds, bodies, and souls.
How do we apply this to our lives today? That’s what Dr. Jason Broge, LHM’s director of Design and Development, shares with us.
Watch the video at lhm.org/studies and then
come back here to finish the study below.
CONCLUSION…
The Bible reveals the power of spoken words. God created, and Jesus renewed creation, by using spoken words. Furthermore, both Old and New Testament writers exhort us to consider the power of spoken words. So …
What if … we took to heart the power of our words? One application of this concept is that we should consider just how impactful our words can be on situations and relationships.
Do you need to say, “I’m sorry,” or “I forgive you,” or “I love you,” to someone? Go do it. What situations in your personal or professional life could you positively impact with your words?
What if … we embraced the truth that we may have the right words at the right time? A closely related application is this: spoken words are (sometimes) necessary. Not only can they hugely impact situations and relationships, but there are occasions when we are compelled to speak.
What have you left unsaid that you now feel God nudging you to say in a relationship and/or a situation in your life? How can you speak the Gospel to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers?
What if … we aspired to always speak gracious words intended to build others up?
A third application is this: how we speak matters. Over and over again in the Bible, we are exhorted to consider not just what we say, but how we speak.
What needs to change for your speech to fit your new self? How can you build others up with your speech?
PRAYER…
Our gracious Heavenly Father, help me to consider the power of my words, to see how my words can bring life and healing to the people and situations around me. Forgive me for all those times when I spoke words that did the opposite, and for all those times when I didn’t speak words when I should have. Give me the grace to know what to speak, when to speak, and how to speak so that You are honored and glorified and creation is redeemed. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
