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CENTRALITY OF GOD’S WORD IN SERVICE (III)
THURSDAY, MARCH 5
Nehemiah 8:1-8

1 Timothy 4:12-16

 

“…give attendance to reading,

to exhortation, to doctrine.“

 

CENTRALITY OF GOD’S WORD IN SERVICE (III)
 
The picture presented in Nehemiah 8 does not only give us a picture of a people desiring the Word of God and gathering to hear from the Word with reverence, commitment and patience. It also gives us a picture of ministers of God committed to their charge, and faithful to their calling. Ezra, when approached to read the Word, obliged and read the Word. The Levites, who stood beside Ezra, made sure that all who came to hear the Word of God understood the Word that was read.
 
And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (8:5). The sequence of events attributed to Ezra as he fulfilled his calling may appear very strange in some churches today. What did Ezra do? First, he opened the Book in the sight of all the people while he “stood upon a pulpit of wood” (Neh 8:4). He was visible “above all the people.” It is a travesty for the minister of the Word to stand before God’s people and not open the Word of God before them. Second, “Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God” (Neh 8:6). He prayed before he read and preached the Word. Many today have forgotten that as ministers “we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Cor 4:5), and hence they do not seek His blessings, guidance or Spirit. Preaching without prayer is sacrilegious. Third, “they read in the book in the law of God distinctly” (Neh 8:8). The public reading of Scripture is intended for the public to whom it is read, and therefore, such reading must be audible and distinct to all in attendance. Scripture reading is not a speed-reading contest, and it is not a chore that is to be completed in haste. The minister has a sacred duty to the Word he reads, as well as to the congregation he reads to. “(G)ive attendance to reading” (1 Tim 4:13) is the apostolic injunction to Timothy, and as such the minister cannot first meet with his reading at the pulpit. A preacher unfamiliar with the Scripture should not stand in the pulpit, and one who has not acquainted himself with the portion for congregational reading should not stand to lead in reading. We should all study to show ourselves approved unto God. Rightly dividing the Word of truth must include, first of all, distinctly reading the Word.
 
THOUGHT: When we believe God’s Word, we focus on our duty.
PRAYER: Give me grace to assess myself in the mirror of Thy Word, Father.

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