Truth Must Lead to Action
In this series of blogs, Truth: Fluid or Final? I’ve been writing about the finality of God’s truth as found in the scriptures. Yes, there is absolute truth for you and me and it originated from God. The Bible is the bedrock of truth for humanity. It has reliability and authority today just as it has for thousands of years. We have at our finger-tips ancient truth that was God-breathed, transmitted to men by divine inspiration, and preserved over the ages as living truth for an ever-changing world. In today’s rapidly changing culture, we need God’s final word more than ever! However, for God's truth to make a different in your life, it must be applied to everyday living. God's truth must lead to action!
HEARING BUT NOT DOING
If you had a chance to read my last blog, I addressed a portion of scripture from the book of James. In James 1:22 we read…
“…do not just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”
God has communicated his truth in scripture, but listening to it or reading it for the purpose of gaining knowledge or crossing off a task on your mental “to-do” checklist is not God’s purpose for his truth. As James says, “You must do what it says.” This has always been God’s intention. We see it in the Old Testament scriptures as well. In speaking to the prophet Ezekiel, God clued Ezekiel in on some conversations that were going on among the Israelites after they left a worship service. This is what God says to his prophet in Ezekiel 33:30-32...
“30 Son of man, your people talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors. They say to each other, ‘Come on, let’s go hear the prophet tell us what the LORD is saying!’ 31 So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money. 32 You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it!”
More or less, God is saying this…
“Ezekiel, we’ve got a problem. People are coming to your worship services, listening to your sermons, taking notes and then after worship they gather and compliment you and applaud you, and gush about what an amazing preacher you are. They’re downloading your podcasts. They’ve watch you on YouTube, they download your messages and listen while they work out. They tell their friends to come and hear you preach. In fact, Ezekiel, you’ve become one of the most popular preachers around. You’re the latest preaching flavor of the day! But, here’s the problem. While they’re devoted to your preaching, their lives remain unchanged. They leave worship services and don’t act any different than they did when they came.”
There's a contemporary issue among evangelical churchgoers that should give us pause in our approach to worship and the Word of God. What God said to Ezekiel is a potential problem for any Christ-follower who goes to worship on the weekend weekend. You can go to Sunday worship, receive the message from the pastor and walk away saying, “I just love that guy. I love how he tells those stories. I love when he just nails the passage. I’m never bored. I love it when the Word of God is opened for us.” But then walk away and your life is unmoved. How can that happen? Because Biblical information, even it’s inspired, God-breathed words, will not automatically lead to personal heart transformation.
For the Word of God to be effective in your life, instead of just making you feel good, entertained, or more informed, you have to apply it. You have to do what it says. James says, “don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.” God says to Ezekiel, “They hear… but they don’t act on it!” You must be a doer of the Word for God in order for the Word to really change your life. God’s truth must be put into practice. It must lead to personal action. God’s truth must lead to Christ-likeness. Is that true for you?
LOOK INTENTLY
In my last blog, I included this passage from James 1:23-25…
“23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
Listening to God’s Word (including reading or watching) that doesn’t lead to “doing” what it says is a misappropriation of the scriptures. James uses the words, “look intently into the perfect law.” Doing an intent Bible study is different than just reading or listening to a preacher or teacher. The study is more focused. The word intent literally means to stoop down. If I'm outside and want to see an interesting looking insect on the ground, I will need to stoop down for a closer look. Being intent is not just a passing glance or a casual observance. It’s not just looking over your shoulder and saying, “That’s kind of interesting.” It’s stooping to look; digging down to get a little deeper.
While many Christ-followers might read their Bible or hear or watch snippets from a devotional that comes through email or video blog, that’s not the level of intent study James was talking about. Looking intently calls for focus and careful scrutiny God’s Word. One of my favorite scriptures from the Bible that gives good reason to intently look into the Word is from Hebrews 4:12…
“12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
The description of the scriptures here is vivid and impressive. The writer of Hebrews describes the Word of God as a magistrate; it judges actions, sifts motives, and pronounces sentences.
God’s Word is alive. It’s the breath of God’s lips. As such, scripture is never a dead word, but always alive and swift with spiritual life. God’s Word is supernaturally prepared to accelerate renewed spiritual life within you.
God’s Word is active. The actual power of the Word is as great as the authority which it claims. It is the supreme power among all humanity. In the moral sphere in which we walk each day, the scriptures dominate so-called cultural truth. God’s truth overlooks and eclipses the thought of the world.
God’s Word is Heart-dissecting. The scriptures pierce into the deepest recesses of your being. Your thoughts and beliefs, attitudes and feelings can be like tendons and ligaments hidden away, hard to reach, and seemingly indistinguishable, but the sharp blade of God’s Word uncovers and separate the hidden things to reveal your true spiritual condition.
HOW SHARP IS GOD’S WORD?
Metaphorically, the scriptures are sharp enough to act as a spiritual sword to uncover sin, The Word of God is a scalpel to surgically cut away and then heal your brokenness. Be sure, the truth of the Bible is sharp enough to separate spiritual things which seem completely intertwined, such as the soul and spirit. The Bible often uses those two terms interchangeably as an explanation of how completely God’s Word can distinguish between the godly and ungodly.
As indistinguishable as soul and spirit are, the Word of God can discern between them. This incredible dissecting power of Scripture is, therefore, a tool to reveal your very thoughts into good and evil. We also see that God’s truth parts “joints and marrow.” Understand that marrow is in the very core of the bone and it’s there that blood cells are produced. The joint is the point of connection on the outside of the bone itself that joins it to another bone. The word for joint in Aramaic can also be translated membrane, or covering. This membrane is a very hard substance and is called the periosteum. It would be difficult to slice between these three parts because they are fused together to form the bone. It could be done but only with the very sharpest knife or tool. The writer of Hebrews was being metaphorical to demonstrate how sharp the Word of God is!
SPIRITUAL SURGERY
God’s Word is the touchstone of your inner-most character. It’s the divine eye which detects the true spiritual condition of every person who intently looks upon it. It reads the most secret thoughts and desires of your soul and pronounces judgment upon any unwillingness to turn from sin. That’s what the Bible is. It is the surgical tool by which your life is undone and redone. Let me say this: surgery doesn’t happen very effectively when driving in a car or in the workplace, or when watching TV or socializing or a hundred other preoccupations that keep you moving at breakneck speed. Surgery doesn’t take place on the fly. Rather, it requires focus, attention, time, a steady hand and deliberation.
For the Word of God to slice and penetrate and divide and surgically cut into your life so as to make a real difference, you’ve got to slow down and intently look into the mirror of God’s Word. You’ve got to stop and give it the time. You’ve got to read the Bible so that the Bible reads you. You’ve got to study the Bible so that the Bible studies you. You’ve got to mark up the Bible so that the Bible marks you. That’s what a disciple does. You know the Word of God and then put the truth into action.
NEXT STEP
1. If you haven’t developed a habit of studying God’s Word, pick up your Bible, a highlighter, pad, and pen and start reading. Don’t overthink this, just do it! Ask God to speak to you as you read from the Gospel of Luke or the book of Acts or Romans. Write down your impressions, highlight what jumps off the page. And then obey and apply God’s truth to your daily life.
