Doers of the Word

A man walks into church late. He says to one of the ushers, "Is the sermon done yet?" The usher answered wisely. He said, "The sermon has been preached, but it has yet to be done."

That was a good answer! The word of God is not just meant to be preached. It’s meant to be practiced. It’s not just meant to be delivered, it’s meant to be done!

And on this Ash Wednesday, God wants us to examine our hearts and to repent of all the times we have heard the Word without heeding the Word. I want to talk tonight about how God wants us to apply His word to our lives this Lenten season and beyond.

We’re in the book of James. James is one of the Lord’s brothers, a son of Joseph and Mary. He wrote this letter in 46. A.D. There’s a famine in the holy land. Jewish and Gentile Christians have been persecuted and scattered all over the world. They’re poor. They’re hungry, and they’re desperate. So James writes this letter to show us how to live by faith in troubled times.

And in verses 21-27, this means being a doer of the Word. First, we have to RECEIVE the Word. Verses 19-21 says “My brothers take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of the all the moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the Word planted in you, which can save you.” Get rid of your grudges. Get rid of your bitterness. Get rid of all the stuff that’s messing up your spiritual life. Bring it to Jesus and say “I’m laying this stuff at your feet, and I’m going to humbly accept the authority of your Word in my life.

I was reading about Roger Staubach, the former quarterback of the Cowboys. And I was reading that for years, he wasn’t allowed to call his own plays. And even though Coach Landry was a football genius, Staubach was mad at first, because most of the great quarterbacks in the NFL could call their own plays, but he couldn’t. Later on, Roger said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to accept the authority of my coach, there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."

Just as Roger Staubach needed to learn how to humbly accept the football authority in his life, we need to humbly receive the spiritual authority in our life. The word of God.

We have to receive the Word. Second thing we need to do is to REHEARSE the Word, we need to put the Word of God into practice in our lives. Verse 22 say “Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. DO what it says.”

Brad Hernke came back from Ethiopia two months ago, and he told the high school class about all the poverty over there and about how the orphanage he was at didn’t even have a decent kitchen to cook meals for all the kids.

And Tom and Anne and the kids have been learning about how young people should doers of the Word. So they said “We can help those kids. God doesn’t just want us to hear His Word, He wants us to DO it.”

So last Sunday, they had a brat fry to raise money for the orphanage. And they came up with $! All because a group of young people decided not just to be hearers of the Word, but DOERS of the Word! They chose to practice and rehearse God’s word in their lives!

And James says in verses 23-24 “Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face