The Words in Red

…for his word possessed authority. Luke 4.32

Early in my church life, I toted my Ryrie Study Bible into Sunday School and sat down next to a man I later learned was a big deal. And, for good reasons, his legacy continues to this day. We said polite ‘hellos’ and I opened my Bible to a page full of bright red text. He turned his head and said in a mildly censorious tone, ‘You know the whole Bible is God’s Word, not just what Jesus said.” Class began. That Bible still sits on my shelf reminding me of my earliest attempts at studying God’s Word and of that Sunday when a pastor told me the truth without authority. He was right, of course. But so were the teachers in Moses’ seat who Jesus told his disciples to listen to but not imitate.

spend a great deal of energy making sure I’m right about the Bible. May that never change, but that is not all the flock needs from their pastors.

To honor a man who deserves honor, he spent his life teaching the saints with gospel authority, including me later on. And I would do the same to souls soon enough. As a professional Presbyterian, I spend a great deal of energy making sure I’m right about the Bible. May that never change, but that is not all the flock needs from their pastors. The nature of Jesus’ authority is mysterious. We can’t be Him, but he called us to be like Him. So, the next time you open the Bible to instruct his people, make sure you remember that being right is not your only job.

Credentials

But I will be with you. Genesis 3.12

That was God’s answer to Moses’ vocational insecurity. How do you answer yours? Hopefully, you were well trained in the content and craft of ministry. The Church affirmed your gifts when they hired you. Congregational affirmation is harder to come by as time passes, but they keep letting you go to work and that’s not nothing. Those are okay, but success is the best credential. It’s also the hardest to measure. Minister long enough and you’ll wonder if that word means what you think it means.

Congregational affirmation is harder to come by as time passes, but they keep letting you go to work and that’s not nothing.

Moses was successful by one measure. But, it took a long time, burdened an already burdened people and earned him grief from Pharoah and friends alike. And, in the end, despite a resume full of Israel’s most epic miracles he delivered from Egypt but not to the Promised Land. Whatever confidence he had on the safe side of the Red Sea, forty years of malcontents and manna wore it down. Which may be why God answered Moses with the promise of divine “with-ness”. That’s the same promise Jesus gave us at the end of the Great Commission and the only credential that will never fail you, even when you feel like a failure.