Be A Doer

August 30, 2009

James 1

Title “Be A Doer”

Desired outcome: Be doers of the word.

The townspeople were in total despair. A fire which started in a diner was threatening to burn down the entire shopping district. They seemed helpless to do anything about it. Suddenly, a truck filled with farm workers came speeding down a hill toward the fire. The crowd moved back as the truck drove into the flames. The workers jumped out and beat at the fire with their coats, miraculously bringing it under control. The city fathers were so grateful for the men's heroism that they gave to each a plaque and a $1,000 reward.
After the ceremony, a newsman interviewed the driver and asked him what he was going to do with the money. Without a moment's hesitation the man replied, "You can be sure the first thing I'm gonna do is to fix the brakes on my truck." Brian L. Harbour, RISING ABOVE THE CROWD, (Nashville: Broadman, 1988).

Sometimes we don’t become men and women of action by choice!

The title of the morning’s message is: “Be A Doer.”

I think everyone of us here would agree that we want to be doers, but the real question is, doers of what?

Doing is a value in our society. And for the most part, I would say it’s a good value. It’s part of the good American work ethic.
However, we all know many people, maybe even ourselves, who are busy doing just for the purpose of…, well, nobody seems to really know what the purpose is.

The thought is: “If I’m not busy, then I’m not being productive.”

But I think we all know plenty of people who are busy and not productive at the same time
checking e-mails all day long, but not actually getting anything done.
Running from meeting to meeting but not seeing any results.
Taking our kids from one activity to the next hoping to keep up with the neighbors.
Pouring ourselves into our favorite hobby and never quite being satisfied.

John Maxwell said in his book “The Journey From Success to Significance”

If you’re not doing something with your life, it doesn’t matter how long it is. If you are doing something with you life, it doesn’t matter how long it is. Life does not consist of years lived, but of its usefulness. Your focus must be beyond yourself. If you are giving, loving, serving, helping encouraging, and adding value to others, you are living a useful life. That is significance.

Our passage in James this morning said we want to “prove ourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

So what do we want to be doers of? Doers of the word.
What does that mean exactly? Well, there are a couple of clues earlier in our passage.

In v. 18 we read that we have been brought forth by God’s word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
In God’s word of truth, there is no variation or shifting shadow.
God is God and Truth is Truth and they will always remain the same. We are brought forth or newly created in the light of this truth when we allow Christ to rule our lives.

Then, it seems as if James is saying, “You know this already, but I want to remind you that your anger and your actions do not achieve God’s righteousness.
Being angry isn’t getting it done.
Being angry is not achieving the goal we began with.
What does achieve God’s righteousness is this:
Put aside filthiness and wickedness. Anything that makes us unclean. We’re not talking about dirt and mud here. We’re talking about those dirty little secrets we try to hide from everyone else, but we can’t ever hide from ourselves or from God.
This was how Susannah Wesley defined "sin" to her young son, John Wesley: "If you would judge of the lawfulness or the unlawfulness of pleasure, then take this simple rule:
· Whatever weakens your reason,
· Whatever impairs the tenderness of your conscience
· Whatever obscures your sense of God, and
· Whatever takes off the relish of spiritual things--that to you is sin."
These then, are the things we want to put aside so that
In humility, we can receive the word implanted, or literally, Christ within us, which is able to save our souls.”

This brings us back to our original question: What does it mean to be a doer of the word? A doer of the word is a doer of Christ’s teaching.

If that be the case, then our first scripture reading from Matthew 7 comes to mind. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise builder.” “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them is like a foolish builder.”

Hearing is not the key. It’s what you do with what you hear that matters according to Jesus.

I’ve read books from biblical scholars who have devoted their life to studying the scriptures and yet the words they know better than anyone else, in their original language, studying the settings and the context and all the nuances, these words aren’t taken to heart and so become merely an academic exercise instead of a life-giving resource.

Packing our minds full of good knowledge and doing nothing with it is bad for the soul.

Dr. J.B. Gambrel tells an amusing story from General Stonewall Jackson's famous valley campaign.
Jackson's army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other side. After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible.
The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks and fence rails he could find and built a bridge.
Long before day light General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river.
General Jackson asked where are the engineers and what are they doing?
The wagon master's only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.
Pulpit Helps, May, 1991.

In Meredith Wilson's MUSIC MAN, the professor tried to get Marion the librarian to go out with him. He asked her to meet him at the footbridge across the stream running through the park. She wanted to, but she refused. She said, "Please, some other time. Maybe tomorrow." The professor persisted, yet she continued to put off their meeting. Finally, in exasperation, he said,
"Pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find that you've collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays."

There’s a line from the movie "PAINT YOUR WAGON." Some say, "There are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who move on and those that stay.” But that’s not quite right.

"There are two kinds of people in this world. Them that is going someplace and them that is going no place. That's the truth." Herb Miller, EVANGELISM'S OPEN SECRET, (St. Louis: CBP Press, 1984).

We want to be going some place. We want to be living our life with significance and with purpose. We want to be doing, but not for the sake of being busy. We want to be doers of the word- Christ in our lives.

A man was making his way over the mountains through a terrible snowstorm. He gradually got weaker and weaker, until at last he stumbled and fell. He said to himself , "This is the end. I shall never be found." He was too weak to rise, but as he fell his hand struck the body of another man who had fallen in the same place. This first man was unconscious and the man who had just fallen rose to his knees and, bending over the prostrate form, began to chafe his hands and to rub his face until by and by the man's eyes opened. He had saved another life, but he had also saved himself, for the exercise had kept the life in his own body. And when you have a passion for souls, when you go seeking the lost, when you lift the burdens of others, your own vision of Jesus is clearer, your own hope of eternity is stronger, your own assurance of salvation is greater. --J. Wilbur Chapman

We want to be doers of the word because that draws us closer to our Lord.

Let me leave you with a few quotes to inspire you as you lead your lives of action for Christ.
- Rabindranath Tagore said
"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson said
"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."

- and finally, John Wesley said

“Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.”

May it be so with us.
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Desired Outcome: Be doers of the word.