Knowing and Doing

Many of us know more than we do. For me personally, I find it's not that I don't know what I ought to do as much as it is failing to do what I know I should do. Pastor Perry’s May 6 sermon dealt with James 1.19-27, which includes the following: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (verse 22)

Perry writes, “The good thing about listeners is that they tend to spend time in the word. Listeners are often people who have a systematic quite time. That is they spend time almost every day reading, studying and taking notes over the things they’ve learned. Listeners are often people who love the church, they usually take copious notes during the sermon time and they even teach bible studies. But according to this passage there’s another step necessary for your spiritual development.” Too many of us who love the Bible don’t actually obey the Bible. The problem is that the Bible is meant to be obeyed, not just listened to.

The pattern we ought to have in our lives is to learn some of God’s truth, then put it into practice, then learn more truth, then put that into practice. But it tends to be that we sit in classrooms and sermons, listen to teaching on CDs and podcasts, all the while filling our heads up with knowledge and not changing our lives one bit. (Does this remind you a bit of the Pharisees that we studied in our last sermon series?)

We love to point our hypocrisy and contradiction in the lives of others. Think of the respiratory therapist who goes out on a break to have a cigarette, or the cardiologist stuffing his face with high-cholesterol foods and fattening himself up, or the beautician with a wretched hairdo. The real challenge is to see the inconsistency in our own lives and then do something about it. We ought to take some of that knowledge we have of God’s word and actually start applying it to our lives, making changes and the Holy Spirit puts his finger on dark corners that need the light to shine in them. O Lord, shine your truth into my life!

God's Yeses

First of all, I want to say that the spelling of this title is correct. I even double-checked it in the dictionary, and "yeses" and "yesses" are both accepted spellings of the plural of "yes." Okay, that's for those of you bothered by spelling and grammar like I can be. :)

I've been thinking about a point from April 29th's sermon in our sermon series on the book of James. In the midst of talking about temptations, Perry said that we need to "Live in light of God's yeses." Way too often, we tend to think of God's commands as a series of "no's." Don't do this, stop doing that, and on and on. Many a church has helped pour guilt onto Christians by piling up rules, boxing people in so they are in veritable straight jackets, unable to move.

What if we focused instead on the things God has said "yes" to? What if we painted much better and brighter pictures of what God affirms? I'm not suggesting that sin doesn't matter to God, but that we would do well to focus less on that big, shiny pile of things we call "sin" and more on life the way it was meant to be lived.

It seems easier for us to use our imaginations to picture what is ungodly, twisted, or sinful. This certainly seems true for the motion picture industry. If you're familiar with the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies, think about how thoroughly evil the depictions of Mordor are, and how ghoulish the orcs and other servants of the Dark Lord are. The dark imagery is very powerful. Compare that with the ability of the film makers to achieve beauty in places like Rivendell. Sure, it's nice and all, with waterfalls and ornate carvings, but it's not nearly as compelling as the dark.

Why don't we set our minds to picturing the good things God has in store for us if we follow his way? (Philippians 4.8) Since God made us, with all our interests and desires, shouldn't we think that he knows the best way to fulfill those desires?

We are tempted to spend all our time and money on ourselves. Why don't we do a better job painting a picture of a life lived for others, a life of serving and giving? People who go on short-term missions trips to developing countries usually return saying things like, "They were so poor, but so full of joy," and then in a few weeks often return to the same lifestyle as before their trip. Perhaps we can do a better job of highlighting joyful lives of ministry.

We are hounded today by temptations to illicit sex and sensuality. Why don't we herald the beauty of sex within marriage, the way God designed it to be? And I'm not talking about puritanical, prudish talks about "waiting for marriage," which is of course an obvious given, but about saying things like "Want to avoid lots of hang-ups, distractions, and dissatisfaction in your sex life? Then stay away from pornography, don't fool around before you're married, and you'll have much more fun in the long run."

The desire for a thrill drives people to jump off of high structures with bungee cords strapped to them, to jump off their houses while friends video tape them, or to a myriad of "extreme" sports. Why can't we declare the thrill of knowing you're fulfilling your purpose, doing what you were created to do? (Ephesians 2.10) Or the thrill of sharing your faith with a neighbor you've developed a relationship with over months and years? Or the thrill of enjoying the beauty of creation and praising its Creator?

Let's live in light of God's yeses, and in doing so fully live (John 10.10). Have you got any more pictures to paint? I'd love to hear about them. Share them in the comments to this entry.