Title:- Avoiding Violent Vivisection
2 Corinthians 3:6 … ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Words can lose their voice. They can become ‘nouns to be etymologized, verbs to be parsed, adjectives to be admired, adverbs to be discussed’ and most unfortunately, even Scripture has never been exempt from the fate of losing its voice through death giving, violent grammatical vivisection.
The scribes of Jesus day had an extensive and meticulous knowledge of Scripture. They memorized it, revered it and regulated every detail of life by it but evidently, did not hear the voice of God at all! Imagine that. Even today, printers ink on Bible pages can become embalming fluid when the Word is separated from the human act of hearing, which in turn by the way, should move to believing, following and loving.
My opening statements of today actually paraphrased some of Eugene Peterson’s words from a section of his daily reflections called, ‘Living the Message.’ I cannot help but think he is correct, for even these words, even Eugene’s words, have a distinct and chiding voice. Yes, even these words carry with them a power. Maybe it is because we know them to be true.
I still remember the dead frog we were all given in Biology class, and even after all these years, the smell of formaldehyde still lingers in my memory as strong as if I were still wearing my old school blazer. In just a little while, by squeamish little fingers, the frog was amputated, chopped, diced, segmented, thrown about, its entrails flicked into the long brown hair of screaming girls and then finally, what was left was laid aside for closer scrutiny. In the end, such violent vivisection had only left bits and pieces of what was once a recognizable whole. Indeed, what we had left on our lab tables, on our lab floor and on our clothes, would after the violent vivisection, never be referred to as a frog again!
Ministers of the New Covenant are ministers of spirit words! Words of life and light and movement. Words that move mountains, words that break hearts, words that dry up rivers, words that heal the sick, words that give sight to the blind, words that cause people to walk on water, words that bring down strongholds, break demonic forces, bind up the broken hearted, bend light, and even lengthen days! Friends, God’s words are alive and enormous and should cast long shadows across our soul. Be very, very careful then, that in all your dissecting and your so called doctrinal discerning, that when you are finished, what you have left on your table, is something that is even far, far less than even a beautiful, jumping and ever croaking frog.
Hey! Be careful with those words preacher, for they are not yours to mess with!
Listen: - the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
Pray: O Lord. Open my ears that I may hear wondrous things from Your Word. Let me see not in part dear Jesus, but the whole. Amen and amen!
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