Responsibilities In The Church

Illus: An unknown person wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. The complainer said, "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me I can't remember a single one of them. So I think I'm wasting my time and the preachers are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall what the menu was for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be dead today."

The preaching of God’s Word is essential. Why is the preaching of God’s Word essential today? Because we live in a society where we believe that the problems we face in our lives each day can be solved by:

• Protests on the streets

• Boycotts of businesses

• Meaningless peace treaties

• Labor unions etc.

But you will notice, these are not solutions; these are only POSTPONEMENTS. Many times before the ink dries on the peace treaties or agreements that men sign, the problem is repeating itself. It is only when God’s Word is preached that mankind has instructions in how to solve their problems.

One of the great responsibilities that every minister has is to follow the instructions the apostle Paul gave to Timothy, and that was simply “PREACH THE WORD!”

But if you will remember, I told you I wanted to talk to you about the two most important responsibilities in the church.

One is the preaching of God’s Word, and the other one is equally important and that is the receiving of God’s Word.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT YOU RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD?

Illus: It can be best explained by saying that you can be around nutritious food constantly and starve to death. We have to do more than EXPOSE ourselves to good nutritious food, there has to be a time that we RECEIVE IT.

When you come to church, it does you no good until you say, “God I receive your Word and I will obey it!” Verse 22 clearly states, “But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

Just hearing the Word of God is not all God requires. It is one thing to HEAR THE WORD OF GOD, and it is quite another to RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD!

Illus: The late Dr. J. Vernon McGee talks about the different kinds of translations that continue to come out each year. He said what the church is in need of is a "Doer's Translation."

James makes that clear to us in chapter one, verse 21. "...RECEIVE with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls."

There are two meanings for the word that is translated "RECEIVE," in our text.

(1) IT MEANS TO REACH OUT AND GRASP SOMETHING.

If I am standing before a table filled with food and I reach out and grasp something, I am RECEIVING it. But, that is NOT the way it is used in this text.

(2) IT MEANS TO WELCOME

That is, we should always be ready to RECEIVE the Word of God into our hearts and make it a part of our lives.

We can see that so clearly in verse 21 where it speaks of the "ENGRAFTED WORD."

Illus: Farmers will take two separate branches, scrape the bark off and tie them tightly together and it won't be long before the two will become one.

This is exactly what the Word of God does for Christians.

Let me show you three WAYS WE SHOULD WELCOME THE WORD OF GOD INTO OUR LIVES.

I. WELCOME THE WORD WITH REPENTANCE

One thing Christians should always keep in mind is that we CANNOT welcome the Word of God into our lives UNTIL we are willing TO LET HIM CLEAN OUR "SPIRITUAL HOUSES."

Illus: A pastor was invited to supper by one of his members. Because the family recognized he was a "man of God," the wife spent the whole day cleaning and getting things ready to RECEIVE him into their home. As she was cleaning she saw that …

• SOME THINGS in her home WERE OUT OF PLACE

• SOME THINGS should not have been there to begin with