On February 18 of this year, we heard the disturbing news that Robert Hanssen, a 25-year veteran of the FBI and expert in counterintelligence, had been arrested on espionage charges. He is accused of passing top-secret information to the Soviet Union — and later Russia — starting in 1985. Federal agents apprehended him at a Virginia park just minutes after he left a package under a wooden foot bridge, which investigators say was a drop site for delivering secret documents to his Russian handlers. The Washington Post reported Monday that experts were looking closely at government computers at the FBI and State Department to make sure that Hanssen, who is a skilled programmer, did not sabotage them or create vulnerabilities that could allow Russian spies to steal sensitive information while he is jailed. But as the information poured out about Hanssen, we learned that he was also a faithful church member who attended services every week. In addition, he was a member of Opus Dei, a conservative religious order that is strongly anti-communist and stresses moral righteousness.
You have to wonder if Robert Hanssen really heard what was being said at his church as he sat there Sunday after Sunday. And did he not hear what was being said in the religious order of which he was a part? How is it that some people hear the truth over and over, but do not put it into practice? Robert Hanssen is not alone. There are people like him in churches all over the country. They hear the truth, but they do not do the truth. Jesus said, “In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving’” (Matthew 13:14). We have a serious problem in the church of Jesus Christ. Somehow we have a moral disconnect between faith and action. There is a great chasm between what we say we believe and what we do. We have inculcated the philosophy of the world and accepted it over the teaching of Scripture — without even realizing it.
In the Old Testament hearing was a part of obedience. It was inseparably linked. Shema is the Hebrew word meaning “to hear.” The Old Testament law is encapsulated in what is called the Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” This carried over to the New Testament where the Greek word for “obey” is hupakouo. The word for “hear” is akouo, and to really hear is hupakouo, it is hearing that results in obedience. It means that you paid attention to what God was saying. To hear is to do.
Jim Cymbala, in his book Fresh Power, decries how the world has effectively evangelized Christians without their awareness. He cites George Barna’s recent study that regular churchgoers are shockingly similar to the general populace. One example was that 27% of non-Christians purchased a lottery ticket in the past week, and 23% of Christians did the same. Barna gives many such examples of similarities between Christians and non-Christians. We watch the same movies, go to the same places and do the same things. Another research group found that 52% of churchgoers said they never donated time to helping the poor, hungry, sick or those unable to help themselves. Another research group said that 52% of churchgoers never donated time to help the poor, hungry, sick or someone unable to help themselves. I was appalled that the divorce rate is actually higher among Christians. 27% of those claiming to be Christians were divorced, compared to 23% who made no claim to be Christian. I understand that divorce is sometimes unavoidable by a person who does not wish it, but shouldn’t there be a vast difference among Christians in comparison to non-Christians in the area of faithfulness and commitment? Somehow what we say we believe needs to come in line with what we do.
There is a real problem in the church of Christ today. In the book of James, we find several solutions to this problem, and the first is this: If you are going to be a genuine Christian you must be intentional about your spiritual life. John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can.” No one ever became a Christian by accident. You have to purposely develop your spiritual life. You have to be intentional about it. You have to spend time working on it. The first thing that James recommends is that we become quiet. He says, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak” (James 1:19). The reason that most Christians have a dichotomy between what they say and what they do is because they never stop long enough to listen to God. They may be talking to God throughout the day, but there is no quiet time when they stop and listen to him. They don’t sit with the Word of God and let it speak to them. We have many people who say they believe in the Bible who have never read the Bible. Please tell me how you can believe in something you have never read. How would you know whether you believe in it or not? But that takes time. It takes carving out a part of each day. But as you begin to really hear the Word of God it will begin to change you. You have to be a hearer before you can be a doer.
If you are not a hearer of the Word of God, then you will be open to the deception of the current philosophy of the world which is so prevalent. This is what happened in the early church. A particularly poisonous heresy began to make its way into the church as the New Testament was being written. The name of the teaching was Gnosticism. Gnosticism taught that the material world was evil and the spiritual world was good. In fact, Gnostics taught that the material world and spiritual world had no connection. The body, being a part of the material world, was evil. But the spirit of a person was good. Nothing good could come from the body, and nothing good should be expected. Since the body and soul were separate, it was taught that it did not matter what people did with their bodies. What a person did with his or her body had nothing to do with their souls, so if they used their bodies for immoral purposes it had no effect on their spiritual lives or their relationship to God.
Today a sort of neo-Gnosticism seems to have captured the church. There is a chasm between our physical lives and our spiritual lives. A huge gap exists between hearing the Word and doing the Word, as though the Word of God has nothing to do with the material world and real life. We hear the Word of God, but we do not take it seriously. We hear it, but we do what we want to do anyway — at the same time calling ourselves Christians. We pretend that sin is not serious and that God is not disturbed by it. But James says that you are to: “ . . . humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). To take a Gnostic approach is to deceive ourselves about God and our relationship with him. And there are many deceiving themselves today.
But we not only need to be intentional about our walk with God, we need to be consistent. And this is the second point: If you are going to be a genuine Christian you must be consistent in your spiritual life. Here is the hard part. Anyone can start a race, but not everyone finishes. If you are going to finish, you are going to have to work on being consistent. Actually, it’s easier this way. Don’t try to do it all at once, do a little each day. You don’t have to live in a cave for three months in order to listen to God, just spend a little time each day. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier so that you can get up 30 minutes earlier. Sit with the Bible and listen as you read. Make it personal as though the words were meant just for you.
The ancients had a special form of devotion they called lectio divina. It means “divine reading.” The idea originated with St. Benedict, an Italian monk. He taught his followers to read the Scripture out loud slowly. Then, as a part of the Scripture particularly spoke to them, they would carry that word around with them all day. I have been using that method in my devotions this year and it has been very meaningful. For instance, in my devotions one morning as I was reading a section in the Gospel of Mark, I read where Jesus said, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Mark 14:38). I carried with me through the day the simple phrase “Watch and pray,” and all day I considered what that meant for my life. You can write the phrase on a small piece of paper and carry it with you. It is a simple way to keep the Word of God before you in a consistent way. It is nothing big, but it is enough to make a difference in your life — a small act of being consistent.
Sometimes people look at the Christian life and think they have to do everything and learn everything at once. Some of that is good, because it means God is placing in our hearts the desire to know him and his Word. He has planted within us the desire to grow. But don’t get discouraged if you can’t do it all at once, just be consistent. Do a little each day, but do it faithfully. And as you grow, one day you will look back and be surprised at how far you have come. It’s like eating an elephant, you do it one bite at a time.
We need to be intentional, and we need to be consistent. But there is something more. If you are going to be a genuine Christian you must endure in your spiritual life. Intentionality and consistency are for everyday life. Endurance is for the long haul. If hearing is going to translate into doing then you are going to need to endure — through the tough days, the boring days, the sad and disappointing days, all the days of your life.
James gives us the idea of endurance through the metaphor of a mirror. He says, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:23-25). The idea is that of a person who looks into the mirror and sees that her hair needs combing. Her nose is running. There is food between her teeth. A huge pimple has made its way to the surface. She looks a mess, but the phone rings and she walks away from the mirror and promptly forgets what needs to be done about her appearance. She goes to work still in her robe and slippers. Everyone else sees it, but she has forgotten.
James parallels this to someone who looks into the mirror of God’s Word and sees himself clearly. The sight is unpleasant and scarey. He sees his error. He sees how far he has wandered from God. He sees how he has hurt other people. He sees his sin. But then it is time to go to work and he puts his Bible down. Immediately, he forgets what he has seen about himself. He is distracted. He repeats the same mistakes. He does nothing to correct his relationship with God, his family or others. He forgets his sin. He does not remember that what he has been doing is displeasing to God. He saw, but he forgot. He began, but he did not endure. He heard, but he did not continue to do. He made promises and broke them. The cares of the world came in. The desires of life took over. Pressures came. He no longer listened.
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). The word “hold” means “to continue.” Only if we continue in the teachings of Jesus are we truly his disciples. Jesus does not recognize lip service without the corresponding obedience. He put it like this: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete” (Luke 6:46-49).
Patrick Morley, in his book Walking with Christ in the Details of Life, said, “According to Gallup surveys, confirmed by other polls taken over the past fifteen years, 33 percent of all Americans over age eighteen indicate they are evangelical or ‘born again’ Christians. That translates into 59 million Christians, or one in every three adults, who experienced a turning point in their lives as they made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. This information should grip us with terror. It means that the greatest revival in history has so far been impotent to change society. It’s revival without reformation. It’s a revival which left the country floundering in spiritual ignorance. It’s a change in belief without a corresponding change in behavior. . . . How did the building blocks of the gospel become glued together with the cement of self- centeredness? The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior. It is a spiritual experience without any cultural impact. It is revival without reformation, without repentance. . . . The proof of religious conversion is to demonstrate that we have both added a relationship with Christ and that we have subtracted sin (repentance). And we multiply proof to a weary world by what we do — our deeds, our obedience. What we do must confirm what we say. Our deeds are the proof of our repentance. . . . A changed life is one that has added Christ and subtracted sin, that attracts a world weary of worn-out words. Obedience is the proof.”
If we are going to convince a cynical world that the message of Jesus Christ is real, we are going to be intentional about living the Christian life. We are going to have to be consistent in our obedience. We are going to have to endure to the end, even through hard times. And as we do so, we lean upon the grace of God, the strength that comes from knowing Christ and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The promise is that the one who “continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.”
Rodney J. Buchanan
March 11, 2001
Mulberry Street UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
LISTENING AND DOING
James 1:19-25
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22).
If you are going to be a genuine Christian . . .
1. You must ____________________________ about your spiritual life.
2. You must _____________________________ in your spiritual life.
3. You must _____________________________ in your spiritual life.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (Mar 11, 2001)
1. How is it that some people can be in church all their lives and never “get it”? That is, it never makes a personal or moral impact on them.
2. No one ever accidentally became a great musician. Why do people believe they are Christians when they have never put any effort into it?
3. Why do we have to be intentional about our spiritual lives?
4. Read James 1:21. What are the negative commands? What is the positive command?
5. Read James 1:22. How do we deceive ourselves? What is the deception?
6. Read James 1:23-25. How does James compare the use of a mirror to an unspiritual person? A spiritual person?
7. Which would you rather be: someone who amazes everyone with a great spiritual happening, or someone who is faithful on a consistent basis?
8. Read Revelation 3:13. How is it possible to have ears that do not hear? Why is this warning in Revelation essential?
9. Read Revelation 14:12. Why is endurance so important in the Christian life?
10. Read 1 John 2:3. How do we know that we are a Christian according to this verse?
