Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
June 14, 2009 - W0924

I have an assignment for all of us at the end of this talk. But first let us read from James: "If you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law ... and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it" (James 1:23-25 NLT). This means that if you see something wrong about yourself but do nothing about it, then that is crazy. If we hear God’s word but do not live His word, than that is insane.

My wife Anna and I recently had an experience that goes under the category of signs and wonders.  She makes signs - and I wonder! We were at a very proper dinner engagement and I happen to get a large and very visible piece of salad stuck in my teeth. Anna made discreet gestures at me to let me know. But I could only wonder at what she was trying to say. Finally, I did excuse myself to the restroom and took a look in the mirror and managed to extract the salad with the help of my pocket knife!

In other words, it is good to have a mirror or someone or something as a guide to use to rectify or fix yourself. It would have been crazy though if I had looked in the mirror and saw the salad stuck between my teeth and simply returned to the dinner without fixing it! But we Christians ARE like that! We hear God’s instructions but do nothing about it. We may go to a sermon and have the pastor say something that stirs our heart and conscience but then we do not apply what we have learned. And we do this again and again. Scripture says that we have to change that. We cannot let the church become an end in itself. We cannot let simply going to church be the goal. Using church for our transformation has to be the goal. If simply going to church becomes an end in itself then …

WE CAN CONFUSE:

• INSPIRATION for TRANSFORMATION

Sometimes we want transformation to happen without effort and intention. We look for the sudden emotional lift to transform us. Rather though, we should make the conscious effort and intention to apply the one thing we learn from church that day and each day. If we do not, then, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires" (2 Tim. 4:3). If not corrected, we soon will prop up teachers that teach only what we want to hear rather than what God wants. And then we will confuse …

• KNOWLEDGE for MATURITY

I know people with plenty of knowledge but who are crazy and not mature. It seems that no one knows what truth is anymore. That is why we had so much trouble with House Bill 444. Even some pastors erroneously supported that same sex civil union bill.

If we remain confused, we may know everything about love, joy and forgiveness but not be able to give or receive them. We are in danger of becoming "...always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7). Instead of seeking the truth, we become defenders of OUR perspective. We begin changing God’s ways into OUR ways. And then we begin confusing …

• AGREEMENT for OBEDIENCE

We hear things in church and say “hallelujah!” because we already agree and already want to do what we hear. But that is agreement – not obedience. Obedience is following God even when you do NOT agree. Obedience REQUIRES something extra from us. As the Bible says, "Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to Me as 'Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey My Father in heaven" (Matt. 7:21). This reminds me of the story of the old time preacher beginning his ministry in a tent.

Preacher: One day, instead of a tent, we will build a church building for this congregation. But today, this ministry is like a baby and we have to crawl!

Congregation: Let it crawl, let it crawl!

Preacher: But one day we will stand up and walk!

Congregation: Let it walk, let it walk!

Preacher: And soon we will run!

Congregation: Let it run, let it run!

Preacher: But we can’t’ just run, soon we will soar!

Congregation: Let it soar, preacher! Let it soar!

Preacher: But before we can soar, we need roots and so we need a generous tithe offering to establish roots so we have to give everything we have!!!!!

There was silence.

Then from the back came a voice:  Let it crawl, preacher.  Let it crawl.

So that is the difference between agreement and obedience. It is easy to shout out agreement but actually doing something requires sacrifice which many people do not do. But if we do not take action then we are all ears and not a whole person. We need to have not only ears but hands and feet to become a whole person. We need to take action to be complete. The Bible puts it this way, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1:26-27). A man should bridle or control his tongue. If not, he deceives himself. The word “believe” comes from “be” and “live”.  In other words, you should be what you live or who you are is how you should live. In our case, if we are Christians, we should act and live as Christians. God wants us to go beyond what we hear and to take action on what we learn. Remember …

1. Pure faith is WALK, not just TALK.

That is why at the bottom of each journal page I ask you to ask yourself, “How will I be different today because of what I have just read?” As it is written, "Dear brothers and sisters, what's the use of saying you have faith if you don't prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can't save anyone" (James 2:14). We are not saved BY good works but are saved FOR good works because when we are saved we then can access the power of God to do good works.

The greatest sermon is how you live because people are always watching. They are watching you do good works and bad works. Very aptly, someone once said that more is caught than taught. In other words we teach others more by what we are caught doing rather than what we actually tell them.

Edgar Guest wrote with similar thought:

I'd rather see a sermon
     than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me
     than merely tell the way.
The eye's a better pupil
     and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing,
     but example's always clear;
And the best of all preachers
     are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action
     is what everybody needs.

I soon can learn to do it
     if you'll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action,
     but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver
     may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lessons
     by observing what you do;
For I might misunderstand you
     and the high advice you give,
But there's no misunderstanding
     how you act and how you live.

Taking action will make us into a whole person with arms and feet rather than simply all ears. This is also important because …

2. Without action we can DECEIVE ourselves.

We can begin to use our knowledge to defend OUR perspectives rather than God’s. But taking action helps to lessen that tendency of self deception. That is why scripture says, "Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share..." (1 Tim. 6:18). With faith and good works, we can move the world, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”(Ephesians 2:10) 

We need to walk by what we learn from God, and then we can have a whole or complete life. We were created by Him FOR good works and so will be happier if we follow through on His instructions.

Billionaire John D. Rockefeller learned these same lessons. He was a millionaire by age 23 and became a billionaire by age 53. But something happened to him. His health began failing him at age 53.  They could not cure him.  Eventually doctors gave him only one year to live. With that news he wondered what he would do with all his billions in the little time he had left. So he began giving it away to charity and through his foundation, he helped make penicillin and helped cure diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. The funny thing is that the more he gave as he thought he was dying, the more his health improved and the more he truly lived. Through all his giving and charity work he actually lived to 98 years young!

So this summer, I want you to go to the next step. This is your …

ASSIGNMENT:
Do one GOOD WORK each day this week.

Everyday, do one good work throughout the summer. How? It can be as simple as encouraging someone. Simply tell someone they did a good job.  Or apply what you learned from our Me and My Big Mouth series. Actually BE slow to anger and quick to listen each day. If you really try to do one good work each day, this could be our best summer yet!

We should take action on what we learn from God similar to us fixing our appearance after looking at a mirror. If we do not take action on God’s word, then we can confuse inspiration for transformation, knowledge for maturity and agreement for obedience. Pure faith is walk or behavior and not just talk.  Without action we can deceive ourselves into believing our own perspectives are God’s. With action, we can become a whole Christian person with hands and feet – not just all ears!

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1. What problem are you ignoring? Why?
2. What are you trying to fix according to God’s wishes?
3. In what situation have you confused inspiration for transformation?
4. What is so bad about agreeing with God?
5. How are you trying to improve your walk with God?
6. Why does not taking action tend to deceive us?
7. What was or will your good work be for today?