Nothing Wasted

This past week, I was excited to preach my sermon from Genesis 1:1-5. Seeing as it was the first Sunday in Epiphany, I was looking forward to using this Old Testament text to talk about the Epiphany, which I had never done before. I had a blast studying and working on this message for last Sunday….and then the service was canceled because of snow. How disappointing.

As I’m settling into my office this week to prepare for this next Sunday, I can’t help but to get caught in the preacher’s trap of feeling like I need to work on something new lest I might be viewed as lazy. So, guilt weighs heavily on preparing something new, even though I have a sermon ready to go! And on the flip side of the coin, I can’t help but to think of this last sermon as a “wasted” sermon, since it is no longer the first week of Epiphany and I wonder just how applicable it will be. So, the temptation here is to work on something new and let this old message sit, maybe to be used another time…but then again, maybe not.

It's a weird thing to think that any time spent studying the word of God can be “wasted.” I’m sure that this attitude comes from some sort of “performance mentality,” where the output (preparing a Bible study, learning facts, memorization, etc.) and the output alone is valued, not necessarily the process of reading Scripture. So, when it comes to writing sermons, it’s easy to see the sermon as the only thing that has value, not the study, the learning, the practical exercise of communicating Biblical truth, and certainly not the fact that the Word actually has done its work in my own life as I’ve heard it.  

Though it certainly is good to memorize scripture, there is a difference between memorizing it and understanding what it says. In other words, we might have verses memorized but do not know what they mean or let them guide and direct our lives. And there is a difference between learning all sorts of different Bible facts and trivia and knowing what the message of the Gospel is. Knowing what justification is versus living in the gift of justification are different; one leads to salvation, the other doesn’t. And there’s certainly a difference between learning and studying Scripture in order to teach someone else, but missing how the Gospel meets you personally. One feeds our soul but the other doesn’t.

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 it says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” The Word is meant to speak to us and to change us. It’s meant to correct our sinful habits and behaviors and show us what righteousness is instead so, that we may be sanctified and made more like Christ. The Word is a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” (Psalm 119:105) by which God leads us and shows us how to live a life of faith in Him. All of this comes when we hear the Word; all of this happens when we simply listen to what the Lord says.

Yes, the book of James tells us, “be doers of the word, and not hearers only,” (James 1:22). God calls us to live according to the Word which certainly involves doing what it says. However, the danger comes when we do things for the wrong motives. If we aren’t hearing the Word and being reminded of Christ’s love for us, when we aren’t hearing of His grace and mercy extended to us in Christ that we receive by faith, and when we forget that salvation comes from God alone, we can easily get stuck in the “performance trap.” If we’re not motivated by God’s love and grace to us, we can easily seek to work and “do” what the Word says in order to earn our own salvation. That is impossible! But in faith, by remembering the Gospel, our works become a joyful response to God’s grace…grace that we receive simply by hearing the Word. When we read the Word, nothing is wasted!

So, this week, I have been reading the Word and listening to what it says, not for the sake of writing a sermon or leading a Bible study. No, I’ve been reading so that God can work in my heart and do what He will in me. I’m praying that you will find the freedom to do the same!

In Him,
Pastor Evan