Some time ago I was browsing the books at Meijers when an interesting book caught my eye. The title confidently promised Never Be Lied To Again. At first I thought, "Yeah, right. But as I thumbed through the book it explained that every one of us is an open book just waiting to be read. It explained how we can learn to read people to find out whether they are speaking the truth!
Some of the techniques for detecting deception were pretty obvious, such as darting eyes, shifting in your seat, and trying to change the subject. But there are hundreds of clues if you know where to look for them. Partially covering your mouth as you speak, touching your nose, folding your arms, putting your hands in your pockets, taking off your glasses and rubbing your eyes, scratching behind your ear, twisting your hair, shrugging your shoulders, slouching over, having your palms facing down, tapping your fingers, or twirling an ink pen in your hand.
If you avoid using personal pronouns like "I" or "we" it shows that you don't want to include yourself in your lie. Or your gestures and words are inconsistent with your emotions. "Honey, of course I loved going to your family reunion." For the trained body language literate professional there are hundreds of subtle, but readable signs that can be used to size us up and get to the truth of matters. Sigmund Freud said, "He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore."
Like a book.
Very few if any of us are engaging in deception. But how comfortable are we with the idea that someone could easily size us up and read us like a book? Are we comfortable knowing that the truth is oozing out of every pore in our bodies?
I enjoyed a recent David Letterman show in which Dr. Phil was a guest. As you may know David Letterman has persistently made fun of Dr. Phil because Dr. Phil has an Oprah-like, talk-therapy television program that is very successful. David loves taking Dr. Phil out of context by playing sound bytes. On one show he had a hardened marine drill sergeant come on the program and do a spoof in which he said, "Dr. Phil changed my life." I don't think David Letterman ever thought Dr. Phil would have guts to come on his program, especially after all the name calling and harassment he had dished out.
As a guest Dr. Phil began light-heartedly confronting Dave for all his sins. He recited the long list of names that Dave had been calling him in his monologues. He did a little armchair diagnosis in which he sized Letterman up, calling his bluff. But as Letterman laughed he was noticeably uncomfortable. He didn't like having the psychologist scrutinize him. He understandably kept changing the subject. It's uncomfortable being known and having to face the truth about ourselves.
I think it is healthy to feel a little discomfort over being known, because the truth is that we are known. There is nothing hidden or secret about any of us. Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV) says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
God speaks.
As disconcerting as it may be, we are like an open book before God. He knows us. But it is more than that. Hebrews 4:12-13 demonstrates that God takes the liberty to speak to us, to show us the truth about ourselves, to show us what he sees, to give us his sobering perspective, and to make his voice known. And when God speaks, it isn't a neutral thing. His words are living and active, sharpe, penetrating, dividing, sifting, judging, and exposing. God's words have impact. They are life changing. They are of great consequence. They force us into introspection. They stir up our consciences. They chastise our motives and intentions. They sift our hearts and minds. They expose our deceit. They penetrate to the core of our being. They call us into accountability.
God's words cannot be lightly dismissed or laughed away on late night television. Hebrews 4:7 reminds us that when we hear God's voice we are to listen. We are to receive God's word with humility and not harden our hearts. We are to respond with obedience and faith.
There is a very distinctive image being conveyed about God's word in these verses that I would like to flesh out for you this morning. But I first want to explain who the word of God is in these verses. In your English Bible you will notice that the word of God is depersonalized. The translators chose the pronoun "it" to characterize the word of God. This is understandable and would be appropriate if these verses were referring to the Bible. The Bible is a book. A book can be referred to as it. But in these verses the word of God is referring to a person, namely Jesus Christ.
You may remember Hebrews 1:1-2 (NIV). "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." In John 1:1 (NIV)we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And John 1:14 (NIV) further clarifies, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus is the primary subject of every verse and chapter in Hebrews and this remains true for these two verses. Jesus is the personal word of God. He is the mouthpiece of God. He is the voice of God to all of us.
Jesus, the living word.
So what do we learn about Jesus Christ, the personal word of God? First, in Hebrews 4:12 we learn that Jesus is living. It sounds simple enough, right? In the Greek the word "living" is the first word that occurs in the sentence. From an English point of view the writer is making a rather cumbersome, but emphatic point. Living the word of God is. . . The writer is going to great lengths to ensure that we don't depersonalize God's word or make Jesus less than he really is.
Jesus isn't some dead, historical figure that has since died and been reduced to ashes. God isn't speaking impersonally to us through a book, but personally through his Son. Jesus is first and foremost a living God. He is as real today as he was yesterday. In fact, Hebrews 4:12 tells us that Jesus is living and active. Jesus is working. He is accomplishing his purposes. He is energizing our lives. He is doing something real and tangible and positive in our lives, in our churches, in our communities, and in our world. The writer of Hebrews is telling us that Jesus is in the center of all the action! You want to encounter the living God? You want to experience the supernatural? Jesus is the epicenter of God's work in our lives and in our world. To miss Jesus, the living and active word of God, is to miss everything!
I wonder if you are someone who always feels like life is passing you by? Your childhood friends have moved on. Your job isn't going anywhere. You feel like your life is stuck in neutral. Your children are growing up. The nest is getting empty. Your health is fading. Your ambitions are eroding. You've just retired, but to what? The future seems mundane and routine. Let's not even mention the stock market. Our world is a violent mess. Life can really beat us down. If Christ isn't real and alive and dynamic and active in our lives, our whole life can feel rather empty and meaningless. Hebrews 4:12 is a reminder that Jesus is alive and wants to energize our lives. He wants to enrich our lives in a way that we cannot enrich our own lives.
Jesus, the sharper word.
But consider the next point the writer of Hebrews makes concerning Jesus Christ. Not only is Jesus living and active, but he is also sharper than any double-edged sword. He penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. He judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. On the one hand, this is a disturbing image. Jesus is double-edged dagger. But what is the author of Hebrews hoping to convey by this image?
The writer is emphasizing the point that Jesus is relevant to our entire life. Jesus is comparatively sharper and more superior to everything in life. He penetrates into the core of our spiritual existence, into our spirit and soul. He penetrates into the core of our physical lives to the joints and marrow. He powerfully slices through every inch of our lives and sifts out all that is evil in the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts.
If Jesus is to be alive and active in our lives, we must allow him to impact our entire existence and not just a small compartment or our life. We're going to have to experience some discomfort, some pain, and some inconvenience as God does surgery on our heart. We're going have to grit our teeth and trust him to do what's best for us. The point is that nothing is to be left untouched. Nothing is off limits. When we yield our lives to Christ, everything in our lives gets impacted, including our job, family, marriage, home, entertainment, finances, relationships, appetites, priorities, values, beliefs, behaviors, habits, and all of our choices. All of it!
One of the tragedies of our times is our failure to yield our whole entire lives to Jesus. We want Jesus on our own terms. We want Jesus to conform to our lifestyle. We want a kind of conditional obedience. The fact of the matter is that we must come to Jesus on his terms, not on ours. He must have his way in our lives. He must have free reign to cut and slice and sift any undesirable part of our life that he sees fit. We must open our ourselves and refuse to harden our hearts in those areas where discipleship is the most difficult.
Jesus, the revealing word.
I want you to turn your attention to Hebrews 4:13 (NIV). "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." I remember crashing my bicycle when I was in grade school. It was late at night and after struggling home, I sat down at our dining room table. I did everything I could to catch my breath, but I couldn't. It hurt to even breathe.
As my parents called the emergency room, I sensed that I had a serious injury. At the emergency room I remember different doctors and surgeons coming in to examine my rib cage and abdomen. They would poke around, ask questions, and I would cry like that baby I was. Eventually they made me drink this horrible chalk-like substance, barium, and they sent me on a gurney through this large doughnut-like machine that scanned my organs for internal bleeding or damage. At the time I told the doctors that I'd rather die than have to drink barium again. The machine was really quite amazing. It uncovered the real problem and prevented the doctors from having to do unnecessary surgery. In the long run, it saved me greater pain and expedited my recovery.
This is the final point the writer is making in Hebrews 4:13 about Jesus Christ. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before Jesus. He exposes every nook and cranny of our soul and gets to the true root cause. But there is a reason for this. He scans our lives to show us any imperfect ways so that we can confess our sin, repent, and mend our ways.
God's ultimate purpose is that we listen to God's voice and not harden our hearts. That we trust in his living and active word, Jesus Christ. That we give way to the work that God is doing within us, as Jesus divides and sifts and cuts through every compartment of our lives, from the least to the greatest. That we humbly respond with faith, confession, repentance, and continued obedience in those impure areas within us that God exposes to us.