On the Efficacy of the Word
September 15, 2021
Once upon a time one of my favorite types of sermons were of what I'll call the "What if..." genre. These were the ones that created an inspiring image in the mind, that propelled us forward with the possibilities, causing us to look at what was lacking in the church, and to look within ourselves to what practical actions we could take to realize that vision. What if we loved God completely and surrendered every part of our lives to Him - what would that look like? What if we authentically loved our neighbor by doing outreach to the community? What if we became a church that truly loved people - wouldn't we become a church that people loved? What if we cared more about the lost outside of the church, and did everything in our power to reach them?
What if we... What if WE... The emphasis was always on our action (through God's strength, of course), and that was appealing. We can make stuff happen, if we can just catch the vision.
One of the first places where I found myself disagreeing my church at that time was actually related to this topic - though that wasn't particularly clear to me at the time - and in hindsight was perhaps the first stirrings of what ultimately led to becoming Lutheran. It happened a year or two prior, and was triggered by some changes in the direction that my then-church was heading.
I had started to notice that we were altering our focus in the Sunday service, sanding down the rough edges as it were, emphasizing quality and excellence in what happened on stage. In addition, we started getting a large chunk of our resources from one specific mega-church that was a sort-of pioneer in this particular Attractional style of "doing church." I had come to believe that the holy spirit worked through spontaneity and authenticity, and believed that in planning and honing every detail we were essentially restricting and blocking him from acting. This progression that I saw in our church really ran contrary to what I'd been taught, and so it became the first time that I really started digging, and reading, and openly questioning what we were doing.
The Attractional/Seeker-Friendly Church model is essentially what it sounds like. It puts an emphasis on reaching the lost/unchurched by doing things to attract them to the church by whatever means necessary, generally accomplished by mimicking the culture (for instance, having the band play popular songs from the radio prior to the start of the service) and appealing to their senses using stage lights and modern architecture, removing or masking religious elements - which might turn them off - to make them more at ease. Preaching is geared toward the novice, cutting out theological jargon and focusing on giving the listener something practical that can help them in their daily lives, whether they're a believer or not. The hope is then, once they're in and connected, that they'll encounter the Gospel and make a decision for Christ.
I could see that the motives behind it all are good ones, but it just didn't sit right in my mind for some reason.
In digging and questioning why this bothered me so, though, I eventually struck at what I believed to be the heart of the matter: a change in the answer to the question, "Why do we meet on Sunday mornings?" The Attractional model says, "To reach the lost." I found that I answered that question, "To feed, teach, and encourage the flock so that they can more effectively reach the lost in their day-to-day lives the other 6 days of the week."
My assessment wasn't wrong, but in what I came to discover a year or two later was that it wasn't complete either. Eventually I came to understand the Sacraments and their central role in the Church, and my understanding of what happens on Sunday was fundamentally altered. But what was perhaps the real heart of the matter - even deeper than the question of why "do church" - was the matter of the efficacy of the Word.
The Attractional model says that the Word has power, yes, but He needs a PR guy, so to speak. He needs our action to be effective, reining Him in here, polishing Him up there. Let's face it...He's old. That beard needs a good trimming, the sandals should be updated, and that attire is utterly foreign and unrelate-able. His language is antiquated so we should teach Him some of today's slang, give Him a tattoo or two, and get Him to tell a joke to lighten the mood. He's powerful, sure, but He needs our added action to unlock that power in today's culture, and not scare people away before they have a chance to hear Him out. Give the listener some practical life-tips - and support them using just a few carefully-selected Bible verses - so that they are "getting something" out of being there and will keep coming back. In our church, it manifested in looking at every aspect of the service from the imaginary eye of someone who has never been in a church, and tailoring everything to suit the seeker-version of "Becky." (As to the current members in the meantime, they need to learn to be spiritual contributors, not consumers, and "self-feed.")
This is, functionally, what I believe the Attractional, or "Seeker-Sensitive" model, confesses about God's Word - that it's not enough on its own to accomplish much of anything. Our action needs to be added to make it potent. However, when we look at Scripture we see something quite different regarding what happens when God speaks.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mark 4:39)
God's words have power to do what they say; they are not weak and in need of our assistance. He spoke back then, His words continue to echo through time, and through the preached Word and the Scriptures He still speaks today. As the Bible testifies:
The Holy Spirit works through the Word. This is why the Means of Grace (e.g. Baptism and the Lord's Supper) are effective; it's not that there is special water, or special bread, or special wine. Rather it is the Word of God combined with the elements that is the operative thing. "How can water do such great things? Certainly not just water, but the Word of God in and with the water does these things." (from Luther's Small Catechism)
In the beginning, the Lord created everything ex nihilo ("out of nothing"). He continues to create out of nothing, and this includes our faith and our salvation.
- from Has American Christianity Failed? by Pr. Bryan Wolfmuller
To be honest, this is a truth that I still wrestle with often. It is contrary to everything that we know about how things work in the world (and thus requires a measure of faith). We have ways to measure the effectiveness of various techniques on different aspects of life, and so it makes sense to our pragmatic minds that it would be the same in the Church as well. The emotional music at the end of the service accompanying the altar call results in more people coming forward; it's effective and stirs people's wills, so we do that. Letting a congregation member come up on stage to sing an off-key, awkward "special music" hymn turns people off and drives them away; God must not be using that activity (and we're embarrassed by it), so we'll cut that out - those hymn lyrics might be straight from Scripture, but if they sound bad they mean nothing.
Statistics show that if the father doesn't believe and it's just the mother bringing the kids to church, the children are all but guaranteed to reject the faith, so there's really not much point in her bothering to drag them along to church and try to teach them at home - it's just a waste of time (and probably causes them to resent her and the church and pushes them further away); God's Word is stripped of its efficacy it it's not being spoken by dad. That pastor is spot-on theologically and properly distinguishes Law and Gospel, but his sermons are boring and dry, and thus God isn't speaking to anyone through him; we ought to oust him and replace him with someone who uses more anecdotes and pop-culture references to engage the people and make the topic relevant to the people's felt-needs - people show up to hear someone like that, so that proves God is working through that style and not through Pastor Bland.
The liturgy in the Confessional Lutheran church relies heavily on this doctrine of the efficacy of the Word. The pages in the hymnal are littered with references to Bible verses showing from where the different parts come - often spoken or sung verbatim. We trust that God's Word - as He says - will not return void, but will accomplish that for which He sent it. Jesus and His salvation for sinners is preached clearly each and every Sunday. His Word of Law shows us how we ought to live, and in so doing reveals our sinfulness and desperate need for a Savior, crushing our "Old Adam" under its weight. His Word of Gospel forgives our sins, raises us up, and creates and sustains faith in that forgiveness, giving us what the Law alone has no power to: the strength and desire to do good works out of love for God and neighbor.
What is done in the Confessional Lutheran church service is done to teach and to confess the truth, not to appeal to styles or tastes. The visitor is not ignored or un-thought-of - they are gladly welcomed and encouraged to attend - but the service is not altered for them, the language is not changed, and the music remains the same. To the newcomer it will certainly seem strange, foreign, and will likely cause them to feel awkward at first. But the Church is not the world, it is not of the world, and it is in fact the very other-worldliness of it that highlights the distinctiveness of the truth that is proclaimed there. The entire service proclaims the Word into their ears, the Law and Gospel are clearly preached, and we trust that the Holy Spirit will use those things to create and sustain faith.
We don't always see the immediate effects of the Word, but it is like a seed planted in the ground: we might not witness anything happening, and if a shoot doesn't spring up right away we might assume the seed is a "dud". But as any gardener can tell you some seeds take longer to germinate than others (here's looking at you, ghost peppers), but that doesn't make them any less potent. God's Word is spoken, sung, chanted, and preached in church, and though rolling eyes and blank stares, phones and watches being checked, wiggly little bodies and young doodling hands seem to indicate otherwise, those sound-waves are physically entering their ears, and through His Word the Holy Spirit is at work creating and sustaining faith in them.
As a Lutheran, my trust in special programs or entertainment-based methods to do the work that only God's Word can do has faded. I no longer see the Bible as mere information that is impotent - mere potential - unless we add our will and action to it. Our efforts to aid the Word by appealing to the culture usually end up watering-down the truth and obscuring the Gospel, whatever our good intentions might be. As I wrote in a notebook once upon a time (and underlined twice), "I think we try to make things happen that it was never our responsibility to make happen."
There is great joy and comfort to be found in realizing that it is all God's doing, and He will accomplish His Will through His mighty, powerful, active, and effective Word.
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