(Click Link to listen to audio blog.)
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
I am a reader of instructions. When I get anything new, I read the instructions before I attempt any assembly. When we get a new family game, I read the instructions so I know the rules. I like to know that things are being done right.
The church has been given an instruction manual called the Bible, and for the assembly to work we need to read and follow the instructions.
2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
A REAL church, after the pattern of the first ever REAL church, is populated by people who are devoted to the Word of God. They are devoted to personal study, small group study, and congregational preaching and teaching, and they are devoted to the application of what they study.
James, the brother of Jesus, says it this way: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22)
Jesus told people a parable to emphasize the importance of putting what we know into practice.
“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 rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
The REAL church is able to stand against the onslaught of the gates of hell because its foundation is the Word – Jesus Christ – and it is being built on the truth of the Word – the Bible.The REAL church is indwelt by the Word Himself. The individuals of the REAL church are indwelt by the Word Himself. The REAL church stands solidly against all of the storms of society because the people of the church are devoted to living out the Word in every part of their lives.
When we know the truth, and do not do it, it is sin. (James 4:17 – Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.) Being devoted to the teaching of the Word of God includes being devoted to the application of the truths we learn.
Let’s be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.
Pastor John
LifeLink 