A church had a new pastor who preached the same sermon every Sunday. When people started complaining, he told the congregation, "I'll preach a new sermon when you act on this one."
That pastor's statement reminds me of the words of the apostle James: "Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only" (1:22). As followers of Christ, we are to live what we learn.
Michael Baughen, a speaker at a Bible conference in England, stated, "James wants you to have a holy faith--worked out in the world." Baughen pointed out that some people, though involved in the church and regular in giving, never care for anybody. "The world calls that hypocrisy," he said. Indeed, our empty lip service never fools the world. James said we fool only ourselves. Our faith is "pure and undefiled" when it overflows in service to others (v.27).
Baughen lamented, "Too many times at a funeral I hear, 'He never did any harm,' and I want to scream, 'Did he ever do any good?'"
Some Christians are little more than "harmless" citizens in the world, for they are hearers only. Others are compelling witnesses, for they are both hearers and doers.
Let's not just learn what God says. Let's live it! — Joanie Yoder
A faith that is vibrant, impassioned, alive,
Will certainly work itself out;
A faith that is eager to roll up its sleeves
Will find that there's no room for doubt. --Gustafson
You haven't really learned the Word until you live the Word.