Because the Bible is God’s authoritative, inerrant, and mighty Word, a Christian is not a person who is seeking after truth. That is what is popular in our generation. It is an age that does not like authority. People do not like to be nailed down, or to be constrained, or to have our sovereignty to be challenged. And so, you will get a better vibe in the workplace if you say,
You know, I, like you, as a Christian, am on a journey seeking after truth.That is not the Christian testimony. The Christian says,I have received the truth through the Word of God, and I receive it in faith. And now my life is about learning the truth that I have received—that has been definitively given to me.Oh, to be sure, I need to grow in the church, but I am not searching after it as if it were out there, needing me to discover it. No, God has revealed his Word through the Scriptures. We have the truth. My calling is to believe it faithfully and to proclaim it boldly.Now, a great example of one who received God’s Word was Lydia, the businesswoman in Philippi that Paul came to know. In fact, not long before Paul came to Thessalonica, he was in Philippi. He and his friends arrived there on the Lord’s Day, and so they went down to the river, looking for a place to pray. And lo and behold, there was Lydia, gathered with some other women. They were also there to pray. And so, Paul declared the Word of God to them. And here is what we read—this lovely verse, Acts 16:14:
The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.Isn’t that lovely? He preached the Word, and the Lord opened her heart. And having her heart opened, she paid attention to what was said by the apostle. We have there both the divine side and the human side of God’s Word going forth—faith in God’s Word as a sovereign act of grace through the Holy Spirit. God must open the heart.But you see, when he does, when we are really saved by receiving the Word, what is the result? That we pay attention to it. We give our attention to it. It becomes a priority in our lives. It is not something we fit in around the edges and pay attention to when it pleases us. No, no, it is the Word of our God to us. We live by it. We obey it. We put it into action as we are taught, knowing that God speaks to us through his Word and that he has opened our hearts to receive it. And so, this is the Word that came through men—but from God.1
Richard D. Phillips
6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,