Post by jrabbach on Aug 30, 2009 18:04:23 GMT -6
I realize that this is a long post, but it was originally a sermon and is pretty representative of how I am working to balance both putting my faith into action, but also being patient and waiting for God to show me what He wants...
Scripture Passages:
- Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
- Mark 7:1-23
- James 1:17-27
In an impulse driven society, it seems that Nike has the perfect business slogan. “Just do it.” These three little words, when strung together seem so simple, but are packed with hidden messages: Go for it! ; Don’t worry so much! ; You have it in you! ; You know you want to! ; Trust your gut! ; Come on! Come on… Just do it….
Now, as Christians perhaps we should be worried about this type of attitude. I mean, we are told in Galatians 5:22 that “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Focusing particularly on patience, and self control, it would seem that the message is clear. Good Christians do not buy Nike.
Now, before you go ahead and throw out a perfectly good pair of running shoes, I think you should know that while I am not going to be able to justify our impulse buy culture and all of our individual snap decisions, I do hope to provide some peace of mind. I am thinking particularly of individuals who like to get out and “do;” the person that has no use for sitting on their hands through a lengthy discussion, arguing over details, when they often can see what the end result will be anyway. They just want to get to work, now. If you are one of these people, or have moments like this, don’t worry, you have a biblical role model.
If the author of the book of James was given an endorsement deal, it would most certainly be with Nike. James hits the ground running, quickly telling his readers in chapter 1 to “persevere in faith” and then in verse 22, which we read today, he tells us, “Do not just listen to the word of God. Do what it says!” James continues this line of thought in chapter 2 by telling us that if we truly have faith, people will see it in what we do. If we really have faith, then we will put it into action. Here is how it sounds in “The Message,” a modern day language translation of the Bible, from James chapter 2: “Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and then you walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup. Where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”
Pretty strong language huh? But I think it shows my point that James was a man of action. He thought that if you have faith in Christ, then you have all motivation necessary to get out and start living your life in a Christian way, in a way that show that you are not simply listening to the word, but that you are doing what it says.
Simple enough right? Do what the word of God says to do. Well, what does the word actually say? In the passage from Deuteronomy chapter 4 that we read, we hear Moses telling us “listen and obey” to the laws and commands of God that he teaches the people. The laws that Moses talks about here are quite numerous. In fact they fill up most of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and at last count numbered 613 in these books alone; and if you think it might be hard to keep all that is written in those four book straight, it may surprise you to know in many Jewish traditions, these books are considered to be the “short hand version” of these laws. To truly be able to understand and obey all the rules you needed the interpretation of a rabbi or priest who understood the oral traditions that went along with the “shorter” written versions, and many traditions were never even written down.
I am currently reading a book by A.J. Jacobs called “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.” It follows the author as he tries, for one year, to follow all the laws and commands in the Bible as closely as possible in our culture today. So far it has been a very interesting read that has really opened my eyes to the number of laws and commands that would direct our behavior each day, but it has left me wondering how anyone was able to make time to have a personal relationship with God when everything was about trying to follow all of those commands, by trying to do what the word said.
We seem to be provided an answer to this idea from the passage we read in Mark chapter 7. Here we have Jesus being confronted by several Pharisees, men who prided themselves on knowing, and following all of the commands given in the Old Testament. They confront Jesus, questioning why his disciples think they are above the law, and can eat without going through the proper hand washing rituals. Jesus’ answer is that the Pharisees have it all wrong. Yes, it is important to follow God’s commands, but they have become so much about the human legalistic traditions that they have missed the point, the most important commandments have fallen by the wayside in an egotistical competition to try and prove how many traditions each knew and could follow. Jesus tells us hear, that it is not about what we eat, or how we wash our hands that makes us “unclean” in the eyes of God. Rather it is what we have within, and how we act and think. We must follow the word of God which tells us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12)
You see, the important thing is where our hearts are at, and how our lives reflect that each day. One of my favorite quotes (by Oswald Chambers) is “Service is the overflow that pours from a life filled with love and devotion.” Basically, if you have faith, you will have works to go along with it. It is kind of like a “If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it” song moment.
So, now we have come to the point where we may understand that James, our man of action, may have been onto something here. That if we truly love God, and love our neighbor that it will be reflected in what we do. Yet, we are left asking, what is it specifically that God has gifted me to do. In what ways can I reach out and show my love of my God and my neighbor. What is it Lord you want me, my friends, my congregation to do? We are ready to “Just do it.”
Now, this may be the hardest part. In a message that so far has been about action, and getting up and doing things, I’m going to have to tell you to wait, to be still, to be patient, and wait and listen for the word of God.
I love learning about other languages, because often one language captures an idea in a way that another doesn’t. In Spanish there are two words to describe the idea of listening. “Oir” which means to hear, and “escuchar” which means to listen. Now they may seem to capture the same idea, but in Spanish oir would mean, “Yes, I physically heard the noise or sound” while escuchar would mean, “yes, I heard, and I processed what it was or understood.” We do sort of the same thing in English. Think of this conversation. “Do you hear that?” “Yeah, what is it?” “Shhh….listen.” You see, we often hear, but it is not until we take the time to actually listen that we can understand.
In the book of 1 Kings chapter 19, we find the prophet Elijah waiting on directions from God. God has promised that he will come to Elijah on this mountain top and tell him what he wants him to do. So Elijah is waiting, and all of a sudden a hurricane like wind comes, and trees start breaking off and things are flying around, and Elijah looks for God in this powerful wind, but the wind dies down, and God was not in the wind.
Then comes an earthquake, and the ground shakes, and boulders are falling around him, and Elijah looks for God to speak through this powerful earthquake, but God is not in the earthquake. Then in the same way comes a huge fire that crackles and burns and scorches the earth, but again God is not in this powerful storm, or work of nature.
After all of this, there is a gentle, barely audible whisper. Elijah strains to hear it, to listen, and it is the voice of God, giving him direction, and telling him what is required.
This is what we must do in our own lives. We must be willing to just sit, and wait, and listen for the still, small voice of God. Often we are waiting for some grand entrance; some large gesture from God that shows us that He is charge. Now, God is there, and he is talking, but we might just be making too much noise to hear what it is we need to do to see that God is in control.
I realize that I have now given you two very different messages. Sit and wait, and get up and do. Don’t worry; I wouldn’t have put them in the same message if I didn’t think that the two ideas are meant to work together. Remember James, our impatient walking, talking biblical Nike advertisement? The one who is telling us to “Just do it!”
Well, I came across an old church tradition while writing this that said James is often attributed with having the nickname, and this is too good to make up, “Old Camel Knees.” The reason he is believed to have carried this nickname is due to the thick calluses that he developed on both his knees from the amount of times he spent kneeling in prayer. So even one of the most action driven men in the Bible took considerable time each day to just sit, and pray; to talk with God; to listen and wait. James thought that faith and action went hand in hand, and you can not truly have one without the other.
So, in your life, are you taking the time to be patient and sit and listen to what God is saying to you? When you hear that voice, are you ready to act, to go out and just do it? Amen.
Scripture Passages:
- Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
- Mark 7:1-23
- James 1:17-27
In an impulse driven society, it seems that Nike has the perfect business slogan. “Just do it.” These three little words, when strung together seem so simple, but are packed with hidden messages: Go for it! ; Don’t worry so much! ; You have it in you! ; You know you want to! ; Trust your gut! ; Come on! Come on… Just do it….
Now, as Christians perhaps we should be worried about this type of attitude. I mean, we are told in Galatians 5:22 that “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Focusing particularly on patience, and self control, it would seem that the message is clear. Good Christians do not buy Nike.
Now, before you go ahead and throw out a perfectly good pair of running shoes, I think you should know that while I am not going to be able to justify our impulse buy culture and all of our individual snap decisions, I do hope to provide some peace of mind. I am thinking particularly of individuals who like to get out and “do;” the person that has no use for sitting on their hands through a lengthy discussion, arguing over details, when they often can see what the end result will be anyway. They just want to get to work, now. If you are one of these people, or have moments like this, don’t worry, you have a biblical role model.
If the author of the book of James was given an endorsement deal, it would most certainly be with Nike. James hits the ground running, quickly telling his readers in chapter 1 to “persevere in faith” and then in verse 22, which we read today, he tells us, “Do not just listen to the word of God. Do what it says!” James continues this line of thought in chapter 2 by telling us that if we truly have faith, people will see it in what we do. If we really have faith, then we will put it into action. Here is how it sounds in “The Message,” a modern day language translation of the Bible, from James chapter 2: “Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and then you walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup. Where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”
Pretty strong language huh? But I think it shows my point that James was a man of action. He thought that if you have faith in Christ, then you have all motivation necessary to get out and start living your life in a Christian way, in a way that show that you are not simply listening to the word, but that you are doing what it says.
Simple enough right? Do what the word of God says to do. Well, what does the word actually say? In the passage from Deuteronomy chapter 4 that we read, we hear Moses telling us “listen and obey” to the laws and commands of God that he teaches the people. The laws that Moses talks about here are quite numerous. In fact they fill up most of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and at last count numbered 613 in these books alone; and if you think it might be hard to keep all that is written in those four book straight, it may surprise you to know in many Jewish traditions, these books are considered to be the “short hand version” of these laws. To truly be able to understand and obey all the rules you needed the interpretation of a rabbi or priest who understood the oral traditions that went along with the “shorter” written versions, and many traditions were never even written down.
I am currently reading a book by A.J. Jacobs called “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.” It follows the author as he tries, for one year, to follow all the laws and commands in the Bible as closely as possible in our culture today. So far it has been a very interesting read that has really opened my eyes to the number of laws and commands that would direct our behavior each day, but it has left me wondering how anyone was able to make time to have a personal relationship with God when everything was about trying to follow all of those commands, by trying to do what the word said.
We seem to be provided an answer to this idea from the passage we read in Mark chapter 7. Here we have Jesus being confronted by several Pharisees, men who prided themselves on knowing, and following all of the commands given in the Old Testament. They confront Jesus, questioning why his disciples think they are above the law, and can eat without going through the proper hand washing rituals. Jesus’ answer is that the Pharisees have it all wrong. Yes, it is important to follow God’s commands, but they have become so much about the human legalistic traditions that they have missed the point, the most important commandments have fallen by the wayside in an egotistical competition to try and prove how many traditions each knew and could follow. Jesus tells us hear, that it is not about what we eat, or how we wash our hands that makes us “unclean” in the eyes of God. Rather it is what we have within, and how we act and think. We must follow the word of God which tells us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12)
You see, the important thing is where our hearts are at, and how our lives reflect that each day. One of my favorite quotes (by Oswald Chambers) is “Service is the overflow that pours from a life filled with love and devotion.” Basically, if you have faith, you will have works to go along with it. It is kind of like a “If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it” song moment.
So, now we have come to the point where we may understand that James, our man of action, may have been onto something here. That if we truly love God, and love our neighbor that it will be reflected in what we do. Yet, we are left asking, what is it specifically that God has gifted me to do. In what ways can I reach out and show my love of my God and my neighbor. What is it Lord you want me, my friends, my congregation to do? We are ready to “Just do it.”
Now, this may be the hardest part. In a message that so far has been about action, and getting up and doing things, I’m going to have to tell you to wait, to be still, to be patient, and wait and listen for the word of God.
I love learning about other languages, because often one language captures an idea in a way that another doesn’t. In Spanish there are two words to describe the idea of listening. “Oir” which means to hear, and “escuchar” which means to listen. Now they may seem to capture the same idea, but in Spanish oir would mean, “Yes, I physically heard the noise or sound” while escuchar would mean, “yes, I heard, and I processed what it was or understood.” We do sort of the same thing in English. Think of this conversation. “Do you hear that?” “Yeah, what is it?” “Shhh….listen.” You see, we often hear, but it is not until we take the time to actually listen that we can understand.
In the book of 1 Kings chapter 19, we find the prophet Elijah waiting on directions from God. God has promised that he will come to Elijah on this mountain top and tell him what he wants him to do. So Elijah is waiting, and all of a sudden a hurricane like wind comes, and trees start breaking off and things are flying around, and Elijah looks for God in this powerful wind, but the wind dies down, and God was not in the wind.
Then comes an earthquake, and the ground shakes, and boulders are falling around him, and Elijah looks for God to speak through this powerful earthquake, but God is not in the earthquake. Then in the same way comes a huge fire that crackles and burns and scorches the earth, but again God is not in this powerful storm, or work of nature.
After all of this, there is a gentle, barely audible whisper. Elijah strains to hear it, to listen, and it is the voice of God, giving him direction, and telling him what is required.
This is what we must do in our own lives. We must be willing to just sit, and wait, and listen for the still, small voice of God. Often we are waiting for some grand entrance; some large gesture from God that shows us that He is charge. Now, God is there, and he is talking, but we might just be making too much noise to hear what it is we need to do to see that God is in control.
I realize that I have now given you two very different messages. Sit and wait, and get up and do. Don’t worry; I wouldn’t have put them in the same message if I didn’t think that the two ideas are meant to work together. Remember James, our impatient walking, talking biblical Nike advertisement? The one who is telling us to “Just do it!”
Well, I came across an old church tradition while writing this that said James is often attributed with having the nickname, and this is too good to make up, “Old Camel Knees.” The reason he is believed to have carried this nickname is due to the thick calluses that he developed on both his knees from the amount of times he spent kneeling in prayer. So even one of the most action driven men in the Bible took considerable time each day to just sit, and pray; to talk with God; to listen and wait. James thought that faith and action went hand in hand, and you can not truly have one without the other.
So, in your life, are you taking the time to be patient and sit and listen to what God is saying to you? When you hear that voice, are you ready to act, to go out and just do it? Amen.