Talking Points with Pastor Lucas - Promoting a Culture of the Word

The book of Acts begins with the dramatic story of how the church was birthed in Jerusalem by the Spirit working through the Word. The living and abiding Word of God bridged sixteen diverse cultures when the apostles spoke the mighty works of God in their own tongues “as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). All were amazed, though some doubted and mocked, contending the preachers were drunk (Acts 2:12). Peter stood up and proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth as both Lord and Christ, put to death for their offenses and raised again for their justification. He invited all to repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and the reception of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14-40). The seed of the Word of God was growing and producing fruit; three thousand souls were baptized and added to the church that glorious Pentecost day. (Acts 2:41).

Luke documents the striking impact of God’s Word on the life and growth of the first Christian congregation: “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).

Here’s the takeaway. As much as human culture wields extraordinary influence on how people live, work, and act in the world, and certainly needs to be considered in evangelizing the people of the world we live in, ultimately it is the Word of God alone that brings people to faith and must be the church’s priority.

To be sure, accurate communication of words—especially God’s Word—cannot take place apart from adequate cultural understanding. This is only common sense. But cultural context always serves the Word of God; not the other way around. This means the Word of God always takes priority over cultural context. In fact, the Word of God creates its own unique and transcendent culture that undergirds, shapes, and directs the mission and life of the Holy Christian Church on earth until Jesus comes again. This only stands to reason since God spoke his word in the beginning to bring creation into existence. The Word of God is powerful and effective.  

Therefore, the church remains fervent in “reaching outward” to unbelievers with the Word of God while at the same time reaming faithful about “reaching inward” to believers with the Word of God. The church always balances doctrine and mission as she exists in a changing world.

In fact, in this our time this world has become a rather inhuman place to live. The Christian scholar and social observer Anthony Esolen points out that we live in the “suburbs of the city of man.[1]” Ours is a subhuman existence driven by private urges and personal impulses. When unfettered passions govern behavior and mentality, life becomes more brutish than human. Anxious to live life to the hilt, people find only disillusionment, emptiness, alienation, and despair. Ironically though people are literally dying to live, they find themselves merely dying instead – much to their dismay. Such is humanity’s common plight after Eden. In Adam all die (1 Cor 15:22).

In short, there’s nothing new under the sun. Mission in the current cultural environment faces many of the same obstacles as during the apostolic era detailed in the book of Acts. Both cultures are fundamentally pagan at their core.

Ultimately, then, the context for mission in the 21st Century is the same as it’s been throughout the history of the Holy Christian Church: because of Adam’s sin, we live perennially in a dying world. Despite its many joys and pleasures, life in God’s good creation is not what he intended it to be in the beginning. We live in a dying world, and death surrounds us on every side.

But in the Lord Jesus Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor 15:22). As the Word of God took root and grew in the pagan world of the first century, it can and will make a difference in our own pagan century. The culture of the Word of God brings the life that is in Christ Jesus to our dying world.

The church is therefore passionate about our Lord and the life he brings to all who would receive it. No matter which differing languages, skin colors and other diversities exist in our neighborhoods, everybody shares the same two-fold spiritual dilemma. They’re simultaneously sinners and sinned against; perpetrators as well as victims of sin. Sin’s ultimate consequence confronts us all: death in all its dimensions - bodily, spiritual, and emotional. This is square one in missional outreach in an increasingly complex and diverse world. There’s no getting around it. The ultimate human problem is death – in all its many facets.

This is where the Word of God comes in. It’s full of life. Wherever that Word is proclaimed and embraced by faith, it creates its own unique culture, bestowing life in all its fullness through faith in Jesus Christ (John 10:10). Wherever the Word of God takes root and grows, so does its culture—a culture shaped by optimism and hope, morality and virtue, and the forgiveness of sins won by the shed blood of Christ on the cross. It is the culture of the Word.

In fact, the culture of the Word of God was alive and well right from the very start of the church: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). It lies at the core of the Holy Christian Church still today and is what will carry us forward as we face the challenges of our time.

The Word of God is powerful and effective. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.” (Isa. 40:8). Let’s keep pressing on in mission together as we grow a robust culture of the Word amid a world that desperately needs to see and hear it.

In Christ,

Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford
District President
MN South, LCMS

This article is adapted from President Woodford’s forthcoming book with coauthor Harold Senkbeil titled: Culture of the Word—Christians after Christendom (Lexham Press).

[1] Anthony Esolen, “Mission Nary Impossible: The Unevangelized May be Better and Worse than Savages,” Touchstone, 28:1 (Jan/Feb 2015).