“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14
Jesus is “The Word” made flesh. While we may marvel at the miraculous works of Jesus, the Father seeks to make Himself known through the character and love that we have for one another.
“By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples,
if ye have love one to another.”
John 13:35
In Jesus Christ, “The Word” was made flesh. God’s purity, love, and long-suffering were demonstrated for this world to see. God’s intent in sending His “only begotten Son” into this world was to make visible His glorious attributes within the lives of those who, by faith, receive the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:2)
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father, that One declares Him.”
John 1:18 (LITV)
His Word is to be demonstrated in the lives of those who have received Him, who is The Word. When the church becomes dimmed by carnality, when it walks in the ways and wisdom of the world, she ceases to show forth His wonder. When we lose His wonder in our midst, we begin to banter over His words; we separate ourselves from one another because we have lost the LIFE of Him.
His Life is what binds us in the “unity of the Spirit”. It is this unity that demonstrates the Unity of God and the power of the living Christ. Men love to speak words about God, what we call “philosophy” (man’s love for knowledge). The Truth of God seeks to make us true representations of Him in how we live. Religion concerns itself with words. Truth concerns itself with motives, actions, and the authenticity of our relationship with Him.
“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received,
and heard, and seen in me, DO: and the God of peace shall be with you.”
Philippians 4:9
Paul was not a preacher of great words. He carried himself as an evidential expression of Christ. “Those things which ye have… seen in me, DO”! He had no church of his own. He desired no following of his own. He was simply a servant of Christ, and he proved it by the life he lived.
“For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him having been crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my word and my preaching was not in enticing words of human wisdom, but in proof of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:2-5 (LITV)
The message Paul brought to the Church was not in words alone but in the “demonstration of the Spirit”! His character and the conduct of his life were the message. The cry of his heart was for the unity, the love and the purity of the church. The idea of men having “their church” and “their people” is the antithesis of the heart and desire of all that God purposed in Christ.
The religious glory in their words, their buildings and their numbers. The pure in heart seek to be witnesses of His person and grace. The carnal draws people to themselves; the humble live to draw all men to Jesus.
Paul had but one supreme motive: “to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” It is the crucified life that presents Jesus with no selfish purpose or agenda. It is a life that knows within itself dwells no good thing. It has seen itself in the LIGHT of Him who is selfless, pure and Holy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart!
For they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8
“My Saviour! Fill up the blurred and blotted sketch which my clumsy hand has drawn of a Divine life, with the fullness of Thy perfect picture. I feel the beauty I cannot realize; robe me in Thine unutterable purity.”
— F. W. Robertson.
Related Post: The Ministry of The Word (LINK)
Brian Troxel
