Doers of the Word
January 9, 2000
Dear Friends:
Being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is NOT a spectator sport. Although we are exhorted to “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come”, the Bible is one of action. Watching is just one aspect of the active life of a believer. No master wants his servants JUST watching when he is away on a journey. He wants them watching while they are performing the tasks required of them.
When we read the list of the faithful in Hebrews 11, we are given a list of doers. Abel offered, Noah prepared an ark, Abraham went out, sojourned, looked, and offered, Sarah received, Isaac and Jacob blessed, Joseph made mention, Moses refused and so on. To be counted among those faithful men and women, we too must be doers.
If pressed to give a definition of Biblical faith other than Heb. 11:1, it would be “belief in the Gospel manifested in action.” We know that “faith without works is dead.” In this sense then, our works can be a sort of gauge for our faith. If we are working the works of God, we are manifesting that faith. I would contend that we cannot stop from doing good works if we are people of Biblical faith. Our faith will not allow us to sit idly by while others do. At the same time, if we are idle, we do not have the faith of the Bible.
It is not easy to do. Our flesh screams to us sometimes to do nothing. Doing something – anything – is likely to gain for us some amount of criticism, questions about its appropriateness or just plain inconvenience. No, doing is just too hard and fraught with potential problems. Perhaps we feel like our role of is that of the supervisor. We will follow the doers around and point of the things they have missed or done incorrectly. That is very helpful, isn’t it? Maybe we can stop the doers from doing at all. Before we will allow them to do, we will give them the benefit of a steering committee or something equally helpful. In a few years, they will forget what they wanted to do in the first place and we can all get back to watching.
Seriously though, planning and oversight are important, but we should be ever so vigilant against hindering the work of the Lord. A doer of the word is seldom the critic. They don’t have time. “Then he said to his disciples “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matt. 9:37,38 NIV)
If you don’t know what to do, try this. Go to the hardest working brother or sister in your meeting and ask them what you can do to help. Tell them you would like to be involved in some of their work or be assigned some work of your own. Ask what needs to be done. If they are not helpful, go to someone else. More than likely you will find out that there is more than enough work that needs doing. Also, if you really are a doer, you will find out the reward for hard work..more hard work.
Have a pleasant and productive week!
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