But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
–James 1:22
Most of my Christian life, I’ve assumed being “well grounded” meant the same as being “well taught.” This morning, I realized I’ve been wrong all these years.
Wrong and maybe a little smug to boot. That can happen when you’ve learned from the best, and I think “the best” is a fair description of the instruction I got.
As a teen, I spent three to five nights a week sitting under Pastor Chuck Smith’s verse by verse teaching. I listened daily to J. Vernon McGee’s expository radio show during my lunch breaks, then as a young adult I attended the first Calvary Chapel Bible school sessions, while cutting my teeth on commentaries by Spurgeon, Newell, Ironside, and F. F. Bruce.
By virtue of absorbing such high quality stuff, I’ve always told myself I was well grounded. But today, I read the parable from Luke about wise and foolish builders for the umpteenth time, and though it’s pretty straightforward stuff, there’s an element of it I never quite saw until now.
The Acid Test
Here’s how it goes:
Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.
–Luke 6:47-49
Did you catch that? The contrast between the well-grounded and the poorly- grounded lies not in what the person knows, but rather, in what he does with what he knows. It’s obedience to revealed truth, not just knowledge of the truth, which lays the storm-proof foundation. But knowledge of truth without the follow up of obedience leaves the house – and of course, the person – vulnerable and
ultimately doomed.
Now that’s sobering me up, because it warns me that God is quite unimpressed with how well we may think we know scripture. Worse yet, He’ll actually hold us more accountable for what we do know!
In other words, when I give a reckoning of my stewardship in this life, if I’ve learned a lot but applied little, then I’m in big trouble. I’d probably be better off learning little, but at least applying most of what little I knew. With knowledge comes accountability, and truths not acted on will eventually come back to accuse the inactive.
Fair Warning
There’s scriptural backing for this point. James said we’re kidding ourselves if we’re hearers but not doers of the Word (James 1:22), Jesus asked rhetorically what the point is in calling Him “Lord” without obeying His express commands (Luke 6:46), and Satan himself displayed a working knowledge of the Bible while tempting Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11) a fact which, it’s safe to say, didn’t qualify him as “well grounded.”
None of which diminishes the importance of learning the Bible, a responsibility we all have and one best fulfilled by daily reading, regular study, and sitting under good Bible teaching and doctrinally sound sermons.
Indeed, the Bereans were called noble for their working knowledge of scripture (Acts 17:11), Paul specifically told Timothy to give attendance to studying the word (I Timothy 4:13) and we’re reminded that we’re “workers” who’ll either be ashamed or confident by how faithfully we’ve “studied to show ourselves approved unto God.” (II Timothy 2:15) So for sure, knowing the Word is essential to a
solid foundation.
But it’s not enough. Knowing the Bible then puts the onus on us to act on what we know, applying it as needed, living it out as required. So today I’ve got to ask myself not what I’ve learned, but whether there’s evidence of what I’ve learned in the way I commune with God, in the way I treat people, and in the way I handle my responsibilities and calling.
Because it’s my deeds, not my creeds (no matter how proper or well learned) that will determine whether the foundation I’ve built can withstand the storms Jesus said would inevitably come. And that, after all, is what the master alluded to when he commended his servants by saying “Well done, good and faithful servant” rather than “Well known, good and faithful learner.”
So it’s good to be hearers, better to be doers, and best to be both. And I know we’re up for what’s best.
Have a great weekend. God bless.
Love,
Joe
