The Ministry of God's Word

Many Christians fail to understand that only God's Word that comes out of God's mouth cannot fail. The tremendous effectiveness of the Word of God can be seen from the following passage of Scripture.

God spoke through Isaiah, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11, NKJV, emphasis added).

There is a very important point of qualification in the above verse which a lot of preachers have not noticed. God did not just say His Word will not fail or will not return to Him void, but He said God's Word out of God's mouth that cannot fail. In other words, you cannot separate the Word from the mouth that comes out of.

When God's mouth speaks it God's breath goes with it. And God's breath is the Spirit; it is the Word with the Spirit in it, which will never return void. The Word without the Spirit the Scripture says is dead:

Paul said. "... for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6).

The psalmist said, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth" (Ps. 33:6).

The above is an example of Hebrew poetry. One of the principles of the Hebrew poetry is that you get two parallel statements which tell us two aspects of the same thing - not two different things.

We can put it this way, "By the Word of the Lord and the breath of His mouth, were the heavens and their entire host made." Not the Word alone but the Word when it breathes with the breath of God. The Word "breath" is actually translated as "Spirit" in Hebrew. In other words, when God's Word goes out by God's Spirit then it is creative, it is authoritative, it is effective and it will never return void. But the Word without the Spirit is just dead.

You cannot speak without breath. Essentially speech is breath being squeezed out of your lung through your oracle apparatus being modified by the position of your tongue and your lips until it produces the appropriate sound. But the basic force in all speech is breath - no breath, no speech. This is true also for the Word of God. The motivating power that brings forth the Word of God is the breath of God.

What it means to be a mouthpiece of God

God does not speak only out of His own mouth but He speaks through the mouth of human beings and He desires that every minister or servant of His shall offer Him a mouth that He can use. Every believer can be a mouthpiece of God so that when God's Word goes forth through that believer it is as authoritative and as effective as if God has spoke it Himself. But it can only be if it is God's Spirit that goes through that mouth with the Word.

Illustration of a mouthpiece of God

The prophet Jeremiah is a fascinating example of the authority of God's Word through the human lips. The Lord spoke to Jeremiah:

"Do not say, 'I am a youth,' for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you" says the Lord.

(V. 9): "Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: 'Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.'" (Jeremiah 1:7 - 10, NKJV, emphasis added).

What a dramatic transformation in one person in a short space of time. When God first spoke to Jeremiah, he said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth" (Jer. 1:6).

Notice the tremendous authority given to Jeremiah after the Lord had touched his mouth - "I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant" (V. 10). And the Word of God in the mouth of Jeremiah was just as authoritative as would have been in the mouth of God Himself! The authority is in the Word when God ordains you to be His mouthpiece.

What does it take to be a mouthpiece of God?

Here is the price you have to pay in order to be an effective mouthpiece of God.

You have to sit alone

It cost Jeremiah something to be a mouthpiece of God.

Jeremiah said, "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts, I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, for You have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that fail" (Jer. 15:16 - 18, emphasis added)?

Here are some statements of truth:

1. Jeremiah was called by God's Name. As a Christian you are in the same category. The call of God upon a person's life makes him a Christian.

2. The qualification for delivering the Word of God is feeding upon the Word of God - "Your words were found, and I ate them". Spiritually you are not fit to teach the Word unless you have digested it yourself - the Word is totally absorbed in your spirit. Failing which you can only give forth the Word from your mind and it will be totally ineffective. There is a lot of preaching and teaching you hear today is nothing but the product of intellectual study of the Word. It accomplishes nothing because that preacher has not first eaten the Word that he preaches. You have to eat the Word and then only you can give forth; you have to digest it and then only you can minister.

3. Jeremiah said that as a result of feeding upon God's Word it became "The joy and rejoicing of his heart". This is a mark of being a child of God - who loves the Word so much that it is a joy and rejoicing of his heart! You should have no confidence in the preaching of anyone who does not love the Word of God. Anyone who does not love the Word cannot be an effective believer.

4. Jeremiah "sat alone". This is true for every committed child of God. There will come a time when you are called to the ministry you have to sit alone. You cannot go with the crowd, you cannot enjoy the things the crowd enjoys, you cannot laugh at their foolish jokes - because the Word of God is something sacred and solemn and you have eaten it.

Every true Christian goes through a period of testing of loneliness. you might be the only believer in your family and no one else will understand you. God requires you to sit alone; He requires you to swim against the stream and come out victorious.

You have to stand before God

The Lord said to Jeremiah, "If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; if you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them" (Jer. 15:19, emphasis added).

Here are some statements of truth:

1. The word "return" means "repent". God wants every child of His to stand before Him - not before man or human counsel, or human institution or denomination. This is the only way you can be His mouthpiece. You cannot fill your mouth with cheap foolish conversation, gossip or empty talk.

In preaching, if you don't mean what you say in daily life as much as you say behind the pulpit, your words have no effect. If you only put on a religious act behind the pulpit, all you have is religion and you are misrepresenting God. You can be popular and get people laugh and smile at you, get the crowd with you, but you will never do them any spiritually good.

Paul said in his ministry in Ephesus, "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears" (Acts 20:29 - 31, NKJV, emphasis added).

Paul did not go around making people happy with laughter. He did not seek to be popular or to be crowd puller - he warned them with tears. The early Church aimed to do one thing - get men rightly related to God.

The ministry of the Word is not an attempt to make people feel good. He who ministers that way will never be a mouthpiece of God.

2. "Let them return to you, but you must not return to them" (V. 19). In other words, Jeremiah, being a mouthpiece of God must not be influenced by them, but he must influence and convince them. He must cue the line and stand on it. A mouthpiece of the Lord must never change his stand - because God has not changed all through generations. What God said centuries ago He says the same today.

The apostle Peter spoke about being a mouthpiece of God:

"If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:11).

In ministry we have to provide a mouth through which God can speak so that He may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The is the standard that is set for us in the Word of God.

Adding to and taking away from the Word of God

The Scripture absolutely prohibits the adding to and taking away from the Word of God. When you do that you blunt the edge of the Sword of the Spirit and make it ineffective.

Moses, a mouthpiece of God to his generation said:

"You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (Deut. 4:2).

"Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deut. 12:32).

Agur said, "Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar" (Pro. 30:5, 6).

We are not required to preach more than what God says in His Word. But at the same time we must not diminish His Word:

The Lord said to Jeremiah, "Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word" (Jer. 26:2).

God detests mixed seeds

It is interesting to look at the pattern in the Old Testament regarding mixed seeds.

God spoke through Moses, "You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you" (Lev. 19:19).

Although the above is stated in the natural it has application in the spiritual. Mixed breeding of livestock is a type of a believer marrying an unbeliever (2 Cor. 6:14). In the New Testament we have very clear application of "mixed seed". Examples are the parable of the tares (Matt. 13:38 - 43) and the parable of the sower (Luke 8:11 - 15).

Preaching of other doctrines

Paul said to Timothy, "As i urged you when I went into Macedonia - remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, ..." (1 Tim. 1:3).

A preacher or a teacher has no authority from God to preach anything but the Word of God - we are not to sow the field (the world - Matt. 13:38) with "mixed seeds". Why do we have such a mixed Christianity today? The reason being we have sow the field with a lot of mixed seeds - partly Baptist seed, partly Methodist seed, partly Presbyterian seed and partly Assemblies of God seed. We have such a horrible mixture that we don't know when truth ends and error begins!

Giving ourselves to prayer and ministry of the Word

The psalmist David said, "The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it" (Ps. 68:11, NKJV).

It is the Lord's business to give the Word and not ours. All we have to do is to publish and proclaim what the Lord gives.

The 12 apostles said, "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4).

The apostles gave themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. This was their primary ministry and everything else was secondary. The tragedy is, today in the Church, you can probably count with the fingers of one hand the number of men who are totally given to prayer and ministry of the Word. We have allowed so many material consideration to crowed in; we are busy with things that are important but it is not our job to do it!

The Word is the Master and we are the servants. The Word has the authority and not we - our business is just to make the Word available after praying through in the Holy Spirit. We are not to lord over the Word of God; we are not to cut it up -we are the servants of the Word!