Doer of the Word

Hear, ACT, Repeat

“Why do you want to be ‘that Christian’ who spend hours every day with God but does not live like Christ?”—asked a few people after reading my last blog. Not only do I understand their sentiment but I have also been there and experienced this myself. In my teenage and early adulthood years, I often asked this question—“Why spend so much time with God when some of these Christians are worse that people who don’t know Christ?”
Pharisees! —that is what Jesus called this kind. Definition: Religious people who wake up early in the morning and supposedly spend hours and hours praying; who seem godly outwardly, speak spiritually BUT display antonymous traits to people closest to them. Only the ones who are close to them know their true colours and vested motives. Sounds familiar?
Maybe someone you know fits the description, or, heaven forfend, you find yourself having some of the aforementioned traits. Know that, Jesus calls them ‘hypocrites’—harsh, some would say. The passage, Matthew 23: 3-13, is a guide to not only follow but also to be cautious while being around such people. So, I urge you to direct your complete attention to each and every word in this passage:

³ So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. ⁴ They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

⁵ “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. ⁶ And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. ⁷ They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’

⁸ “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. ⁹ And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. ¹⁰ And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you must be a servant. ¹² But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

¹³ “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

Phew! —What a clear warning to the people of religious law; interestingly, most of them, seem like they spent hours together praying or perform ritualistic activities. Here, we have clarity on the fact that “these leaders” will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It doesn’t stop there though; they will not let “their followers” enter either.
In James 1: 22-25, it says:

²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

I love how the Word is so clear about these things—it is like God knew that all this is bound to happen, hence clarity is key. Yes, we spend time with the Lord to hear His Word in order to do what His Word tells. Therefore, one needs to understand that for every input, there should be a productive output; it is only then a system is functional and efficient. Just merely hearing the Word and not doing anything, makes one a passive believer. Almost synonymous to an unbeliever or, worse, a hypocrite. Transformation only happens when we HEAR and OBEY His Word through our actions. Afterall, Faith without work is dead. The Word is meant for our transformation and in order for this to happen, we must delve into the Scriptures and not stop there, but also be doers of His Word.
In Matthew 7:21, Jesus says,

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
 Just spending time won’t get one to heaven. You know you are a doer of the Word when you see transformation. This transformation is what gets us to heaven. To be a doer means to OBEY. Even when it does not make sense just Trust and Obey, for there is no other way, to be happy with Jesus….but to trust and obey—like the hymn goes.
It is not a question of whether you can or not, it is a need. We need to obey and do what the Lord asks of us. And this is harder than it seems. But God had this bit sorted as well—He gave the Holy Spirt as our helper. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we cannot obey the Word for our flesh is weak. We must subdue our flesh daily and ask the Holy Spirit to empower us. That is the only way that we can be not just mere hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word.

A month and a half before my dad passed away and went to be with Jesus, we were discussing on the topic—”Christians that don’t live like Christians” My father encouraged me by saying, “You should be a Christian who other people would want to follow!” He went on to say, “Don’t follow the Christians that don’t look like Christians because in the end, it is all about giving an account to God when we see Him face to face, as mentioned in Romans 14:12— ¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”

So, in short, we necessarily do not have to follow people who have not led by example and be a hypocrite. Remember, a pinch of example is worth a gallon advice. We can choose to be Christians who will be salt and light, not just to the world but to other Christians. To show them what actually a doer of the Word looks like and what it means to be doing the Father’s business. So, like my father encouraged me before he went to be with the Lord, I want to encourage you to live truly like Christians by doing the Will of the Father. “Good and faithful servant!”—that is what I want to hear when I go to heaven.