Humble Before the Word

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray walked the congregation through the long and often costly history of getting the Bible into the hands of ordinary people in their own language. The thread running through the whole message was that God's word belongs to everyone, and that humility before it is what allows it to do its work. The story starts with Jerome in the late 300s, translating from Greek and Hebrew into Latin...

Read together

1. Psalm 89 opening worship reading about God's faithfulness and the blessing of those who hear the joyful call to worship
2. Psalm 100 added after a worship song, calling all the earth to shout with joy and worship the Lord with gladness
3. Matthew 7 introduced before the hymn on the solid rock, quoting Jesus that anyone who listens to his teaching and follows it is wise like a person who builds on solid rock
4. Micah 6:8 basis for the offertory song, asking what the Lord requires: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God
5. Isaiah 40:3 the camp theme verse for Old Faithful Christian Ranch, a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord
6. Romans 13 cited as the basis for Tyndale's belief that the king is in charge of temporal earthly matters
7. 1 Peter 3:7 cited as the verse that Matthew Rogers's marginal notes went beyond, about dealing with a wife as the weaker vessel
8. Isaiah 55 quoted at length about God's word going out and not returning empty, accomplishing what He desires
9. Isaiah 55:6 closing call to seek the Lord while he may be found and for the unrighteous to return to him for compassion and pardon

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray described Wycliffe as believing that 'humility before God's word will change us, but pride before God's word changes the Bible.' What does that distinction look like in your own reading of scripture?
2. Throughout the history Pastor Ray traced, people in positions of power repeatedly tried to control who could access the Bible. How do you think easy access to scripture affects the way you take it seriously, or maybe take it for granted?
3. Tyndale's last words were a prayer that the king's eyes would be opened, even as he was being executed. What does that tell you about what Tyndale believed scripture was ultimately for?
4. Pastor Ray walked through translations ranging from word-for-word to paraphrase and said 'God is able to use his word if we're humble before it.' How has God used a particular translation or reading of scripture in your own life?
5. The sermon closed with Isaiah 55, with God promising his word will not return to him empty. Where have you seen that promise hold true, either in your own life or in someone else's?