INTRO.- ILL.- The preacher stood in his pulpit and said, “It’s a fact that you are sitting here, but it’s a matter of faith that makes me believe any of you are listening.”
I think I know what that preacher is talking about. If I didn’t use some humor in order to make you laugh I wouldn’t know if some of you were listening at all. Why? Because your faces do not show your listening skills at all! Are you listening?
ILL.- Two little girls were starting out to play. One insisted on going quite a distance away from her house. “Why do you want to go so far away?” the other asked. The first little girl said, “So that if my mamma calls me I won’t hear her.”
Some kids don’t want to hear their parents, but listening is not a problem of youth only. We ALL have this problem at times. We are selective in our listening. We only hear what we want to hear or only listen to certain people. ARE YOU LISTENING?
In our text, James says, “Everyone should be quick to listen…” We should become better listeners. We should have a listening ear for people, and even more so, for our heavenly Father.
Brothers and sisters, we believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Consequently, we measure ourselves and everything else in life with the Bible. And one thing that God keeps telling us in scripture is that listening isn’t enough! But are we listening?
“Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only.” James 1:22
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
There are many listeners and talkers in the world and in the Christian world, but God wants us to be doers. Just because someone calls Jesus the Lord, it doesn’t mean they are doing any good in this world.
I’ve known a number of people in my time that called Jesus “the good Lord,” but they weren’t good or else they didn’t do any good. They never went to church, didn’t give, didn’t serve in any form, and weren’t concerned about anybody but themselves. God wants us to both “listen and do” what He says in His Word.
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
The truly wise person puts the words of Scripture into practice. He or she is a doer of the Word. And we all need to be committed to doing something as far as the Christian life is concerned!
As someone said, “If we are standing on the promises then we don’t need to be sitting on the premises.” WE NEED TO BE DOING SOMETHING! There’s a time to sit and there’s a time to do.
ILL.- I recall the story about the church that had what is called a “Quittin meeting.” What’s that? I had never heard of such a meeting before, but apparently, it’s similar to a revival meeting. The only difference is in this meeting the people are called on to quit certain things: quit drinking, quit smoking, quit carousing, etc.
One elderly lady went forward during the invitation time. The preacher asked her why she came forward, because he and everybody else knew that she’d never done anything wrong in her life. She replied, “I ain’t been doin nothin and I’m a quittin!” And so it should be with us. If you’ve been doing little or nothing in the Christian life, that is, doing little good or no serving then you need to quit and start doing something.
There are two basic areas where we need to do something for the Lord: in the church and outside the church. We must do things for one another in the church and for people in the world.
Gal. 6:9-10 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
We need to be doing something good for ALL people every chance we get. Often we get only one chance and we need to take advantage of it. If it’s good, we should do it!
PROP.- Let’s think about some ways we can do things for others.
Romans 12:6-8 “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”
The apostle Paul lists 7 basic spiritual gifts in this text and they are to be used to minister to other. These gifts are:
1- prophesying or preaching
2- serving, which could cover many different areas
3- teaching
4- encouraging
5- contributing or giving
6- leadership or leading
7- demonstrating mercy
1- PREACHING
II Tim. 4:1-2 “1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”
Paul charged Timothy to preach the Word. That can mean both the written Word, the Bible, the gospel message and the fleshly Word, meaning Jesus. Both need to be preached by someone, but not everyone can preach or is gifted to preach.
ILL.- On their way home from church a married couple was discussing the preacher’s sermon. The wife said, “It seems to me he didn’t put enough fire into his sermon.” The husband replied, “In my opinion, he didn’t put enough of his sermon into the fire.”
I’ve heard some of those sermons and I’ve preached some of those sermons.
Can you preach? Do you want to preach? Obviously, not everybody has the talent for preaching or the desire to do it. In fact, from what I’ve seen and heard I think some who are doing it should quit. They have neither fire nor content. They have no passion, no personality and no perception.
In my opinion, there are not many preachers on TV who are doing a good job. They do what they do, but not what I think they should do. You can tell by the content of their message that they are not well prepared. They are performers, not preachers of the Word.
ILL.- A Baptist preacher friend in southern IL and I keep in contact via e-mail. He has his doctorate degree but unlike some who have their doctorate, he can preach. He is 69 years old and knows how to preach and can prepare a very good sermon in a short period of time. For me, it takes days to prepare because I do a lot of reading and research.
Years ago (before I had a computer, word processing, internet, etc.) I told my friend that I wrote out every word of my sermon, then I typed out every word and finally, I preached or practiced my sermon twice out loud before I ever preached in the pulpit. He said, “Why do you do that? That’s a lot of work.” I said, “Because my people deserve it and because I’m not as gifted as you.”
Some are not gifted or able to preach, but those who are, must do it to the best of their God-given ability.
2- SERVING
Gal. 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Instead of sinning, we should be serving. Instead of indulging ourselves, we should be serving others.
I Pet. 4:9-11 “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”
We are called to serve one another and do it in love. Sometimes we serve but we are not very excited about it. In fact, we may not be happy about it all. We may grumble about it. We may do it grudgingly.
People don’t always respond in a positive way to our service or ministry and this makes it hard to continue to serving.
I have heard stories of preachers quitting the ministry because all they received was criticism. Likewise, other people have stopped serving because somebody didn’t like the way they did it.
ILL.- I’m like preacher D. L. Moody of long ago who said, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”
When we want to serve, God will provide the strength and whatever else is needed. He enables us to live and to serve. And it’s all for His glory! We may not exactly understand all this but in time we will.
ILL.- A man hurried to the church door on Sunday around noon. He asked, “Is the service over?” An usher replied, “Well, the worship is over but the service is only beginning.”
We mistakenly use the word “service” to refer to the “worship service.” I use that word in the same way as well. But actually, there is only a portion of service being performed during the worship time. The praise team serves. The pianist and organist serve. The men who serve communion and pass the offering plates, serve. The sound technician serves. And the preacher serves by preaching.
Not everyone can be involved in serving in the church. Generally, churches have more people than they do jobs but not everyone offers to serve in some form. However, there are ways to serve in the church. Let me name some and you can determine if you are involved in serving or can get involved.
Can you play a musical instrument? If so, have you offered your services? Can you sing? If you can’t sing a solo (and few can), then why not sing in a praise group or the choir?
Can you teach a class? Obviously, not everybody can, but some can and don’t. I’ve seen capable people in every church who wouldn’t commit themselves to teach whether children or adults.
ILL.- One time, long before I ever had children, I taught 3 year-old children in a Vacation Bible School. Now don’t you know that was an eye-opening experience for a young preacher in his 20’s? I found out about attention span. There is none!
Well, there is very little attention span in 3 year-old children, but someone has to teach them, carouse them, love them, etc. And we have a Toddler’s class every Sunday morning that takes place during our morning worship time.
Could you give one Sunday a month to help? I wish I could. I’d love to love those children.
(Except I do kind of have it in for one of those children. He tapped me on my stomach one day and said, “You have a big belly!”)
These children don’t care how old you are or who you are, as long as you love them and show them attention. Give them a high-five, a hug (if possible), a video, and play with them, read to them, etc.
Can you vacuum, dust, sweep, mop, and clean restrooms, etc.? We do this every month in order to clean the church. And most people have enough talent to do these kinds of things to serve. Keeping the church clean is something we can do any time. Papers always need to be picked up, things straightened, etc.
Can you help prepare communion? Sure, most anyone can and this is something needed every month. It’s just a matter of being committed to doing it every Sunday for a month.
Can you pray? Sure you can. And everyone should be praying for God to bless our worship and classes. Even though we humans may not see this service, the Lord does.
WHAT ABOUT SERVING OUTSTIDE THE CHURCH? What are we talking about? It could be almost anything. To serve outside the church is the idea of doing any good thing to or for anybody in the name of Christ.
Col. 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Whenever you do something good for someone you need to thank God for the opportunity and ask Him to bless your service. And if someone ever asks you why did such and such, just tell them because you follow Christ, because you are a Christian.
ILL.- Preacher Roy Weece of Columbia, MO, picked up several college hitchhikers one time in his VW bug and they asked him why he did it. He said, “Because my leader wanted me to do this.” One of them muttered, “He’s too old for the Boy Scouts.” Another whispered, “Mafia.” And one asked, “Who is your leader?” Roy suggested that they grab hold of something solid in his car. They chuckled and then Roy proceeded to tell them that his leader was Jesus. HOW’S THAT FOR A GOOD WAY TO DO IT?
Gal. 6:10 “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Have you been given any opportunities lately to do something for someone? A neighbor? A friend? An elderly person? I don’t particularly recommend picking up hitchhikers, but there are many things we can do for others.
Any good thing that you can do for anybody is what we’re talking about. If you can help somebody with something then do it!
ILL.- The great scientist, Louis Pasteur, is quoted as saying, “In what way can I be of service to humanity? My time and energy belong to mankind.” In a sense, this is true for us all.
Whenever we have the opportunity and it’s staring right at us, point blank, we should do it!
3- TEACHING
ILL.- Someone said that a Sunday School teacher is a person whose job is to welcome a lot of livewires and see that they are well grounded. Not every student is a livewire but all need to become well grounded in the Word of God.
Eph. 4:11-12 “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
Teachers who do well prepare their students to get involved in service. They equip us to serve the Lord and people.
Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
ILL.- One small boy in school always came in dirty clothing. It was quite obvious from his odor and appearance that he hadn’t bathed in a while. The teacher sent a note home with him one day, which read, “Please give Johnny a bath so he will smell nice and clean.”
Imagine the teacher’s surprise when Johnny came back to school bearing a reply to her note, reading, “It ain’t your business to smell him. It’s your business to learn him.”
It is the teacher’s business to teach people the Word of God so they’ll know it and try to live it. Of course, one of the most important things is knowing how to apply it to our lives. Having an accumulation of Bible knowledge is worthless without application.
ILL.- Preacher Ed Bousman used to say that we needed to do several things with the Word of God: familiarize (ourselves with it), memorize it, sermonize it, and educationalize it. And I would add: personalize it. That is, make it personal to your life.
And a good teacher can do this rather than just spit out a bunch of Biblical information. He or she applies the Word to our lives.
ILL.- One of the best Bible teachers I ever heard was not a Bible college professor. He was a doctor. He was a medical doctor. In fact, he was a psychiatrist. And boy, did he ever do his homework! But not only did he read and research the Biblical passage he was teaching, he also knew how to illustrate it and apply it to life. And that’s how it should be taught.
Romans 2:21 “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?”
This is interesting scripture. Teacher, do you not teach yourself? Yes, we who teach do teach ourselves. In fact, I’ve always heard that those who teach probably learn more than the students do. And this is one advantage of being a teacher. YOU GET TO LEARN MORE THAN OTHERS! You get to spend more time with God’s Word than others and you’ll be blessed for it.
Can you teach? Do you want to teach? Could you? Would you?
ILL.- A preacher was trying to persuade a woman to teach a Sunday School class. She was well qualified and had time for it. She declined, saying, “I don’t want to be tied down to things.” Finally, the preacher said, “You know we serve a Master who was willing to be nailed down to things for us.”
CONCLUSION------------------------------------
ILL.- Perhaps you’ve the phrase, “Worthless as a bump on a log.” My daddy used to say it in another way that I can’t repeat. There are probably all kinds of phrases that refer to someone as being worthless, but that is one tag we should never want before or after our name because perhaps the worst sin of all is doing nothing.
Eph. 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Instead of being lazy, indifferent or worthless, God wants His people to be productive. We all can’t be a Billy Graham or a Mother Teresa but we all can be the best we can be. Ah, there’s the rub! Are we everything that we can be when it comes to serving the Lord in the church and outside the church? Make up mind today to be a better you and also better when it comes to doing and serving.
