God’s Word Stands the Test of Time

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 12/31/09. Text: 1 Peter 1:22-25 http://ref.ly/1P1.22-25

God's Word Stands the Test of Time

On one of the bookshelves in the house where I grew up, sat a set of beautifully-bound books. They were there my entire childhood, and I would often spend time looking through them. Seemingly endless knowledge was at my fingertips. The books were full of pictures, charts, and articles on just about any topic you can think of. And the best part was that, at least in my mind, these books were reliable. They could be trusted.

In case you were wondering, the set of books was the complete World Book encyclopedia: 1980 edition. I was right that these books were a great source of information. But were they reliable? Mostly they were, I'm sure; I haven't looked through them lately. But they were probably the most reliable right when they came out. Since then, though, they've gotten a bit out of date. Think of all the things that have happened since 1980. All the events, all the new technology, all of the stories -- they won't be found in those books.

Well, thankfully, we now have the internet to solve all those problems for us!  The internet probably hasn't been good for encyclopedia sales, because now, information can be kept up to date. One such site that promises this is Wikipedia. It's basically an online encyclopedia that has one unique feature: anyone can update it. Just log in and make the necessary changes to any article to make it correct. Now, nothing will ever be out-of-date for long!

Of course, that has also lead to a few problems. Wikipedia has been famous (or notorious) for having people make purposely false changes to articles. It's been especially bad during the times around elections. Numerous times, someone who was against a particular candidate went on and added false, scandalous information to their Wikipedia site. Turns out you can't even trust the internet to be true and up-to-date.

That's something for us to think about as we enter a new year tomorrow. What's really reliable? What can we put our trust in? The changing of one year into another reminds us that everything changes. Our relationships with others change. The things we do every day change. Our clothes wear out. Our homes and cars need repairs (when they don't need to be replaced.) Food spoils. Technology that is new one day is obsolete the next.

Yes, even our own bodies are wearing out with the passage of time. We're getting older every second. Sickness affects us in varying degrees at different times. And, unless our Lord returns very soon, death will come to each one of us. We will not live forever in this world.

Of course, there is one thing that we can rely on. There is one thing that we can trust one hundred percent. One thing is never out-of-date, never contains an error, is always relevant. I'm talking about God's Word. God gave us the Bible as his perfect, unchanging message of Good News about his Son. And not only is this Word never wrong, it can actually do something for us in this constantly changing world.

We change, things around us decay, but God's Word stays the same. And as it does, it renews us, and gives us new life! Our life, even in this sinful, dead and decaying world, our life has changed forever because of the unchanging Word. Our text from 1 Peter brings these startling changes into focus for us tonight: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart." (1 Pt. 1:22)

Now, there's a new year's resolution if I've ever heard one! "Love one another deeply, from the heart!" Obviously, that's a great goal to have, and we can just imagine the good things that would come to our lives if this command was followed by everyone. But notice, before we can really love one another deeply from the heart, we need to have "purified [our]selves by obeying the truth."

Did your life in the past year seem very "purified?" Can you look back on 2009 as a year when you did everything right, when you helped everyone out, when you made giant strides closer to your God through your acts of love to him and to others?

Maybe you can say yes to that. And that's great. But I think more of us have to admit that 2009 was a year of sin for us. It was a year of wrong choices, poorly-chosen words, selfish actions, and steps farther away from God rather than towards him.

And what can we do? Well, we can do just as much to make up for that sin as we can to stop the passage of time. We can do just as much about our sins as we can prevent the calendar from turning from 2009 to 2010. No, we can't do anything about our sins.

But when we recognize that, when we turn to our Lord in repentance, when we despair of our own works and abilities, then we're ready to hear the message from God's Word that's been there the whole time: Jesus took those sins. Jesus, at a place in time nearly two-thousand years ago, took all sins of all time onto himself on the cross. And in his bloody death, and with his perfect life, he has purified you. He has washed you clean. He has, long before you were born, made you new. He won you a new life.

And then, maybe at your baptism, maybe when you heard that Good News, the Holy Spirit gave you faith to believe it all! That's when you began to "obey the truth" of God's Word. That's the only way you could ever believe it! And it's that faith in your heart from the Holy Spirit, and it's that love for your Savior, that gives us the joy and the ability to do what our text tells us to do: love one another deeply, from the heart.

We can do that only because of what the Word has done for us: "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." (1 Pt. 1:23)  When you were brought to faith through that Word, your new life began, your eternal life began. Yes, we're still sinners, and yes, our bodies will still die one day, but our soul has changed. By faith we are perfect. By faith we have eternal life. Though our bodies die, we will one day have the fulfillment of God's eternal love for us forever.

Our text shows this well as it quotes Isaiah: "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." (1 Pt. 1:24-25) This Word that has changed you, that has given you life, will never let you down. God will not lie to you, but his salvation is truly yours forever.

So remember this as the year changes: love one another deeply, from the heart. And to give you the strength to do this, stay with the Word. Remember, the unchanging Word "is the word that was preached to you." (1 Pt. 1:25) It is the word that gave you life, and it will continue to build up your life of faith in the new year. So keep coming here to church to hear it preached to you. Keep turning in the pages of your Bibles to read it being preached to you. Keep remembering how it was preached to you with water in your baptism. Keep tasting it being preached to you in water and wine and body and blood. Keep that Word in the center of your life. It will not let you down. God's Word stands the test of time.