service notes
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15
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The Doing of the Word Made Easy
Sunday, Jan 17, 2010: By Pastor Hubert Ulysse
James 1:19-22 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
This is an intensely practical section of scripture. We know that James was the half brother of Jesus, and we also know that he did not become a Christian until after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If anyone understood what it meant to hear the word of God and not do it, it was definitely James. So today, we can take a lot away from this small passage.
In verse 19, we learn that we must hear the word in order to know it. No matter what our circumstances or how hard it may seem to do, we have to open our ears. Then, in verse 21, we see that we all have to receive the Word of God. Finally, in verse 22 of the same chapter, we can come to understand that we must do the word of God in order for it to have an impact.
This concept is not new. Jesus taught the same exact thing in the book of Matthew.
Matthew 7:24-27 24. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Paul went as far as to say that we are the word of God in his letter to the church at Corinth.
II Corinthians 3:1-3 1. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some [others], epistles of commendation to you, or [letters] of commendation from you? 2. Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3. [Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
We should live our lives by God’s word so effectively that people around us will know what the Bible says simply by observing our lives.
John 13:17 17. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
If you are hearing this message, reading these notes, or have come across this website because someone has told you to take a peek at this message, then you are responsible. We are all responsible for doing something with the word that we are hearing (or reading).
There is a simple way to distinguish whether or not you are hearing the Word of God or actually doing it.
Qualities of a hearer of the Word only: *compare themself with others *is run by superstition -For example, if you value your actual Bible more than the words that are in it, maybe we have become superstitious about the power of a book rather than living by the Words of God. (Even the Children of Israel fell into this trap by valuing the Arc of the Covenant instead of God in I Samuel chapter 4). *searches for theoretical understanding instead of having a heart to learn
Qualities of Doers of the Word: *have their own conviction aside from what any leader may say because of what they have read and understood from the Bible
So now that we understand what it will look like in our lives if we are hearers of the word versus doers of the word, how is that made easy? After all, that is the title of this message.
Micah 6:1-8 1. Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2. Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, [and] bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7. Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? 8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
If this were written today, it might be called “Living the Word of God for Dummies”. Understanding these things will take just a few minutes, but living them in our day to day lives is something that will take time and dedication to application.
It doesn’t get much simpler than that… oh wait, but it does. Jesus distilled the three things that we learn from this passage of scripture to only two things:
Matthew 22:34-40 34. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35. Then one of them, [which was] a lawyer, asked [him a question], tempting him, and saying, 36. Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment. 39. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Then, as if that weren’t simple enough, Paul went and made those two things even more condensed. Finally, we see the Doing of the Word Made Simple in a singe point in the book of Galatians.
Galatians 5:14 14. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
From some research, Pastor Ulysse taught us that in the context of this particular scripture:
Fulfill means to obey Word means statement
So the law is obeyed in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. Pretty simple. If in our lives we have to concentrate on a single thing, we should concentrate on love. It won’t be an over night change. It will take focus and dedication. But if we focus on love, God will teach us to do it more perfectly. On the surface, we might think that we love pretty well now as it is. Pastor Ulysse challenged each of us to look at the Bible to find out what love really is (check out I Corinthians 13 for a great reference) and then adjust our lives to fit that kind of love. Whatever we find is too much for us to do on our own, we can give to God.
We can’t change our hearts. No one can decide to just not feel something, but we can change our minds. If we make up our minds to love, it is the perfect start for a new year.
So now, the task at hand is to:
Go Hear Receive DO
If you’re wise, go with Micah’s take on doing the Word. If you’re a little simpler, go with Jesus’ version. Or if you are the simplest of all, take Paul’s words and apply them to your life today.
