Devoted to the Word
10th of August, 2025, Morning Service
Acts 2:42
Rev. Logan Hagoort
Everyone Is Devoted to Something
Everyone’s devoted to something in life. Doesn’t matter if you’re religious or if you’re not religious, it doesn’t matter what country you’re in, it doesn’t matter what culture you’re in, your age makes no difference, everyone is devoted to something. Some people are devoted to their family, some people are devoted to work, some people are devoted to idolatry. You see these, don’t you, when your little statues and little incense burners in their coffee shops, and there’s big statues when you go overseas, you see temples, you see religious devotion.
I remember going to a Muslim temple. And it’s not as bad as it sounds. So I was doing study, and we were studying Muslim engagement as Christians, and so we went and watched as the Muslims engaged in their Friday prayer. And it was fascinating watching these men come in and these from the old to the very young coming in and going through this ceremony of bowing down onto their knees, face to the ground, washing procedures, baths made for. It was very fascinating, and it was devotion, right? They were devoted to something.
And I guess the question for us as we approach Acts 2:42 is, what are we devoted to? Or let me ask, what are you devoted to? And one way to think about that, because it can be hard for us to sort of get a grip on, “What is it that I’m actually devoted to in life?” One way of thinking about it is asking yourself the question, “When I have nothing to think about, what do I think about?” You know, like, when you’re sitting in a waiting room, and you left your cellphone in the car so you can’t distract yourself with social media or something, and you’ve got nothing to do, there’s no one to talk to and you’ve just got half an hour to kill and there’s nothing really you need to think about, where does your mind turn? What is the default thinking of your brain? Because that often reveals the reality of what our heart is truly devoted towards, not perfectly, but it helps us gain an understanding.
This morning, we’re beginning looking at the 4 devotions that the church at the time of the apostles gave themselves to. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, they devoted themselves to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. And we’re taking that first one this morning, the apostles’ teaching. And we have to ask the question: Why? Why did they devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching? Because we can’t understand how to apply this unless we really understand and come to terms with what it was about the apostles and about what they taught that meant the people of God gave themselves wholeheartedly, with all of their energy, to the apostles’ teaching.
Especially when you consider that the apostles were not very important and not very special. In Acts 4, Peter and John get arrested and the religious leaders look at them, in verse 13, and it says, “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.” So they heard the words of Peter and John and went, “Wait a second. These guys are just 2 random fishermen. They’ve never been to seminary, they never went to university. How can they speak like this? It doesn’t add up.” And that was all of the apostles, right? I mean, 5 of them, they reckon, were fishermen. The rest of them were pretty much laborers or tax collectors or a religious zealot. It’s not exactly your spiritually and intellectual elite that you would select if you were planning on setting up team ministry, right? It’s like, “Let me find some builders, let me find some randos, and we’ll make them the apostles.” And yet these were the men that the Lord Jesus Christ had selected.
Why Devote to the Apostles? They Were Appointed by Christ
So why would the church devote themselves to 11 laborers? Well, firstly, because these common, uneducated men were appointed by Christ, the head of the church. Notice that it doesn’t say, “They devoted themselves the early church devoted themselves to the followers of Christ.” It doesn’t say, “They devoted themselves to the disciples of Christ.” Now, that’s important because it wasn’t, there wasn’t just 11 men who followed Jesus, right? We’re all aware of that? There’s the 12 that get sent out, yes. But then Jesus also sends out 72. But they don’t devote themselves to the 72. And then there’s also a group of women who faithfully follow Christ and provide for the needs of Jesus and his disciples, wonderful godly women who serve the Lord, and yet it doesn’t say they devoted themselves to the faithful women that followed the Lord, but they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles.
Why? Because, as we’re told in several places, Luke 8, Luke 10, Mark 3, Jesus had selected these men to be those who would be with him, who would hear his teaching, who would see his death and resurrection, and who would be the living testimony of Christ. And so they were appointed by Christ himself. And so Paul can say, as one that was chosen later, in 2 Corinthians, he can say, “I don’t go beyond the authority that Christ has given me. It’s not my authority, but it’s the authority that Christ has given me in appointing me as one of his apostles.”
And we see that taking place, don’t we? Remember, in John 20, at the resurrection of Christ, he appears to the disciples, and after he’s appeared, after he blesses them, do you remember what he does? He breathes on them. It’s a bit odd, right? You’re like, “Wait, what?” Jesus breathes on them, and he says, “Receive my Holy Spirit.” And then reiterating the words of Matthew 16, he says, “Anything you bind in heaven will be bound. Anything you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Anyone you give forgiveness to, it will be given to in heaven. Anyone who you bestow the Gospel to, God will do it.” Why? Because you are the representatives of Christ in this world. So they were appointed by Christ. And so the church recognized that these men, not because of themselves, but because of the authority given to them by Christ, these men must be listened to.
They Were Anointed by Christ
But then, it’s not just that they were appointed by Christ, but it’s also because they were anointed by Christ. Remember, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious leaders, they said, “These are uneducated men.” Yes, they were uneducated men, but they were not unequipped men. They didn’t just go out and use a whole bunch of great tax collector and fisherman analogies to convince the nations. They had been taught by Christ for 3 years, as he did his ministry day in, day out. Jesus had poured into these men. But even more so, what had Jesus done? He had given them his Holy Spirit.
So turn with me to the Book of John, to the Upper Room Discourse, as we call it, in John 14. Start there. You see, because Christ, in the upper room with the disciples, had promised that he would not leave them, not his words, but as uneducated common men who can’t get the job done, but he knew their inadequacies. He knew that they needed help, and so he made promises to them in order to equip them so that they might serve him.
So in John 14, verse 26, he says to the apostles, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Then have a look at verse 16 and 17 of the same chapter. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
Then turn to the next chapter, chapter 15. Have a look at verse 26 and 27. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.” And then chapter 16, verse 7 onwards, “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you, and when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer.”
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority. But whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
And so here, Jesus Christ recognizing the sorrow of his disciples, because Jesus is leaving, right? And Jesus has been their rabbi, he’s been their teacher, he’s been with them day in and day out. He’s been looking after them. He’s been helping them understand. He’s been rebuking them and correcting them for weeks and months and years. And all of a sudden, they find out Jesus is leaving? He only just got back. And you can imagine them thinking, “Well, who’s going to teach us? How are we going to remember? How are we going to do what you’ve called us to do?” And Jesus says, “I will send another one just like me. I will be in you by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will bring to mind all that you apostles need to know. And I will declare to you the truth by the spirit of truth.”
And so he promises all of these things. And what’s the first thing that happens in Acts after Jesus appears and Jesus ascends? Jesus is enthroned, and he pours out the spirit of truth, right? And so these men are not just appointed by Christ to work it out, they’re appointed by Christ and then equipped by Christ by his Holy Spirit so that they have all they need. And this is why throughout the New Testament when it talks about the gifts given by Christ in the Spirit, what is one of the things frequently listed? The apostles. Why? Because their authority, their anointing, their equipping doesn’t come from within, but it’s a gift given by God to the church for, Ephesians 2, the laying of the foundation of the church. And so the church gave themselves over to the teaching of the apostles because they recognized these men had been selected by Christ and peculiarly gifted by Christ in his Spirit in order to declare the word of God and to lay a foundation for the church that the church might build upon.
The Message They Declared: The Word of God
So firstly, because of an anointing, secondly because of an appointing. The third reason why the apostles’ teaching was devoted to is because of the message that these men declared. See, it was, yes, something about them and who they were in Christ as special, once-for-all apostles, but it was also because of the very words that they spoke. You see, there’s many messages in the world, isn’t there? I mean, you can get a Book of Mormon. You can get a Quran. You can get all sorts of different books, and if you open up YouTube, you can find many different gurus and experts who can tell you how to have a successful life, how to have a lovely family, and how to have a happy eternity. It’s no different to back then. Back then, there were messages constantly, messages of Rome, messages of the different religions of Rome, messages of the Jews, different messages declaring truth, declaring what they believed to be the way to happiness here and in the life to come. Some of it was offer sacrifices. Some of it was offer incense. Some of it was worship the emperor.
And in the midst of all of these voices, in the midst of all of these messages of hope, the apostles of Christ stood up and declared God’s word from another world, from heaven to us. And so in Acts 2, after the anointing of God’s apostles, what’s the very first thing they do? They preach the Word of God. They preach the message of hope. You see, because the words they spoke were not just wise sayings, but the words they spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, were the very Word of God.
Let me help you see this. Turn to the letters of Peter. So in first Peter chapter 1, Peter writes in verse 10, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets” so Old Testament, “the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you, in the things that have now been announced to you.” Notice the shift there. So they were carefully inquiring and speaking and declaring things for you, and then he says, “In the things that have now been announced to you.” Who’s he referring to? He’s referring to himself and to the apostles who are preaching and proclaiming the Word of Christ. So, “In the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
Then in second Peter. Turn over to the second Peter. In second Peter chapter 1, Peter now reflects upon the time on the Mount of Transfiguration. You remember that moment when Jesus is transfigured before the people, shines like lightning, and they hear God audibly speaking while Moses and Elijah are there, and they hear God says, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him,” and they fall down as though dead. So reflecting on that, Peter says, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So he says, “We didn’t make it up. We didn’t make cleverly devised myths, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. We saw Him transfigured. For when we received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
Now, if you were them, if you were the one on the mountain hearing audibly the Word of God in the presence of Moses and Elijah and Jesus, would there be anything better than that? Anything more sure? Anything more firm? And yet Peter goes on to say in verse 19, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you would do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation, for no prophecy has ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Now, in verse 19 where he says, “We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed,” he’s not speaking about the Old Testament scriptures, because otherwise he would’ve said, “But we have the scriptures. We don’t need the majestic voice because we’ve got the scriptures.” But he doesn’t. He says, “We have a more prophetic word.” In other words, the apostles proclaiming the Word of Christ from the Old Testament and from what they’ve received from Christ is more sure inspired by the Holy Spirit.
And then, in case we weren’t quite sure yet, in second Peter 3, right at the end, we get this little statement in verse 15. And it’s comforting for those of us who struggle to understand the Bible sometimes. “Count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.” Now this is the comforting part. There are some things in them that are hard to understand. Now that’s encouraging. If you find Paul hard to understand sometimes, it’s okay, ’cause so did Peter. But notice what he says, “Which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.” Now I hope you notice what Peter’s just said here. He says, “Paul’s written these letters, they’re hard to understand, so people twist them just like they do the rest of the scriptures.” He’s saying the letters of Paul are the same as the Old Testament scriptures. In other words, that which the apostles have spoken, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the word of God in the same sense that the Old Testament is. And therefore, you would do well to listen to them.
The words of the apostles were worth devoting themselves to because they were the very words of God. And so the early church looked at these men who had been appointed and anointed and they heard the word of God from them. And what did they do? They gave themselves over to it. Why? Why did they give themselves over to it? Because they recognized something that even the demons acknowledged. You realize the demons very often testify to the truth. Have a look at Acts 16. Let me show you. You remember the story of the Philippian jailer? Well, in the same chapter, we get the story of a poor slave girl, possessed by an evil spirit. So Chapter 16 of Acts, Verse 16, “As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, ‘These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” So what does the demon acknowledge? That these men are men of Christ who proclaim the word of Christ, salvation in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, this is not something that can be over-stressed. When you open up the book of God, you hear the word of God. As they spoke, they spoke God’s word, and so the people devoted themselves to it. We see a beautiful illustration of this in 1 Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul writing to this little church, he encourages them, and he says to them, in Chapter 1, Verse 6, “You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction.” They didn’t receive a Bible, did they? You couldn’t get Bibles. And children, in case you don’t realize, they didn’t have cellphones back then. You couldn’t get a Bible. They received the word in much affliction, as in it was preached to them, and they received it with the joy of the Holy Spirit. And then have a look at what he says in Chapter 2, Verse 13. He says, “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God which is at work in you believers.” Isn’t that a profound verse? “The word of God which you heard from us,” Paul says. “As I preached the word, you heard the word of God and you received it as it really is, the word of God.”
But the Apostles Are Dead—How Do We Devote Ourselves Today?
And so we see this nature of these men and the content that they preached, and yet, maybe I can hear one of you raising an objection. “Well, okay, so Logan, that’s fine. The early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. But the apostles are dead. We don’t have apostles now. So how does this help us? How can I devote myself to the apostles’ teaching if the apostles are no longer around to teach me?”
Well, if you want to turn with me to 2 Timothy, I think it really helps us to understand how the Apostle Paul, at the very end of his life, expects us to do that. You see, as I said earlier, 2 Timothy is very close to the end of Paul’s life. He’s about to be poured out as an offering, he says, and he’s writing to Timothy his last words. This is probably the last letter that Paul writes. At least it’s the last one we know of. And in it, he provides very helpful exhortations to Timothy, and to us, that help us understand how we are to devote, why it is that we can still devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching.
So 2 Timothy, starting in Chapter 1, Verse 13. Paul says, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” So once I’m gone, Timothy, keep following the pattern of the word of Christ that I’ve laid before you. Then 1, Verse 14. “By the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” “Timothy, I have handed to you a deposit. Guard it. Keep it.” And then he says in Chapter 2, Verse 1 and 2, “My child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses,” do what? “Entrust it to faithful men who will be able to teach others.” So what’s Paul saying? “That deposit that I’ve given you that you’re guarding, now give it to others so that they would do the same, so that they would teach it, so that they would hand it on.”
And then in Chapter 2, Verse 8, he says, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my Gospel.” So I have preached Christ, dead, resurrected, child of David. Don’t forget. Cling onto it. This word continues on. I’m going to be gone, but the word will still be living. And then he says in Chapter 2, Verse 15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” Take the word I’ve given you and handle it rightly so that it doesn’t get mixed, so that it doesn’t get maligned, so that it doesn’t get twisted.
And then in 3, Verse 14 and 15, he says to Timothy, “Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it,” that is, his mother, his grandmother, “and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” And then what’s he to do? 4, Verse 2. “Preach the word.”
Now I hope you understand the picture that this is sowing for us. Paul is saying, “I, as an apostle, spoke the word of God. And Timothy, I’m giving to you the word of God for you to now bring to the people, and to teach others to do the same thing, so that this word of God that you’ve received would multiply and spread from generation to generation, so that the truth would not be lost.” You remember last week, we said, when we talked about the church, that one of the purposes of the church is to be a bulwark of the truth, a defender of the truth, where the truth would be maintained in the midst of the lies of the evil one. Why? Because 2 Timothy 3:16, “The Word of God is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.” In other words, the Word of God is sufficient. It has everything that we need for salvation and for holiness. There’s nothing missing. The fact that we don’t have the other Corinthian epistle that’s mentioned doesn’t matter. There’s probably a heap of letters that we never got, and we didn’t need them. But that which we needed, the teaching of the apostles that we needed for salvation and life in holiness, God has given to us in the New Testament. You do not need to look anywhere else. You do not need a new apostle. You do not need prophet. What you need is God’s Word thoroughly proclaimed in your hearing.
Practical Implications: Devoting Ourselves to the Apostles’ Teaching
So how do we do this? How do we devote ourselves to this Word? Let me provide a few practical implications that come from this truth. Since we have received the teaching of the apostles, which is the Word of God, and since we have it in our hands, what does this mean for us?
First, let’s consider it for our church. Our church must be ordered, its worship must be ordered by the Word of God. We must worship God as He declares in His Word. And so everything we do in the worship service, beginning to end, must be commanded by God or illustrated by God and be done in keeping with God’s Word. So for example, Paul says sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. He doesn’t say sing spiritual songs, spiritual songs, and spiritual songs, or sing hymns, hymns, and hymns, but it’s all 3. And so we don’t neglect one or the other or overshadow the rest with one, but we give ourselves to singing the 3. He calls us as families to worship together, and so we don’t have Sunday schools, but we gather around the throne of God together as God’s families, united together as one family.
We commit ourselves to the Word of God secondly by organizing our church according to Biblical principle. This is why we don’t have priests. This is why we don’t have bishops. This is why we don’t have archbishops and archdeacons, because they’re not in the Bible. What do we have? In God’s timing, elders and deacons. There is 2 offices in the church, elders and deacons. And in God’s timing, Lord willing, we will appoint and ordain such men to lead us. And we organize it according to His Word in every aspect of our lives in the church. So we believe in covenantal headship, heads of families, and we honor that and we encourage that. We spur that on. But we also believe that the Scriptures must define our discipleship and our discipline. So the way we build one another up, we do it with the Word. Why? Because the Word is sufficient. You don’t need the 10 latest books on church strategy and discipleship. You need the Word of God, and it’s sufficient to build each other up. It’s also sufficient to tell us exactly how to discipline people. Because just like a family in your home, a loving family disciplines its children, right? And when the household of God requires it, we discipline those we love. And the Bible lays out the principles for that in Matthew 18 and Galatians 6:1, showing us the right way to do this. We don’t need fancy political books in order to tell us how we go about handling problems because we’ve been given the Word of God.
But what about for our families? How does a family devote itself to the apostles’ teaching? Husbands, wash your wives with the Word of God every day. Teach her, nourish her, encourage her with the scriptures that she might be built up. Fathers, heads of home, make the altar of family worship and God’s Word the central part of your family’s life, that within your family there would always be a light shining in the darkness. Mothers, nourish your children with the milk of God’s Word. Remember Paul says to Timothy, “You were nursed by your mother on the spiritual milk of God.” There is no greater provision you can bestow upon your children than the word of life. If your child grows up to be a garbage collector and is well-fed on God’s milk, you are a successful mother. Devote yourself to it. Children, honor your parents by honoring God’s Word.
What about individuals? Well, for every single one of us, Paul says in the letter to the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you.” You can’t do that if you don’t read it. You know, it’s fascinating because we often forget what life was like back then. And it’s not our fault. We’re 2,000 years later, right? We weren’t there. But they didn’t have Bibles. How did they let the word of Christ dwell in them richly? They came to church. They heard the Word read. They heard the Word preached, and then they meditated upon it for the rest of the week and they recited it to one another. We are so far more blessed, aren’t we? I mean, Bibles are a dime a dozen. You can buy them for, like, 5 bucks. You can download them for free on your phone. Devote yourself to the reading of the scriptures so that it would dwell in your heart.
Now, I know you can’t read the Bible all day. We’ve got jobs to do. There are families to feed. There’s things to clean. There’s things to do. But you can almost always be meditating upon the Word of God. And so read it and then meditate upon it. Don’t saturate your soul and mind with the words of the world. One of the greatest problems we have in this blessed age with blessed gifts is we bloat ourselves on the messages of the world. Through social media, through YouTube, through time with other people, through our hobbies. We so saturate our minds and hearts that when we come to the Word, there’s no space left. If you think about your heart and your soul like a glass of water, I can only fit so much in this glass, right? Once it’s full, it’s just coming out. And our hearts and souls are like this. So often, we come to church and we’ve just fed on the world all week long, and then we wonder why the Word doesn’t bury in us, and we go away feeling like we haven’t fed. That’s because we came full. We were just full on the wrong stuff.
And one of my kids asked me recently, “Well, Dad, why don’t you listen to secular music?” ’cause it’s all just cool secular music. And I said, “Well, it’s not ’cause I don’t like it, ’cause I’m a musical person. There’s a lot of music I love.” I said, “But I’ve only got a limited amount of time where I get to listen to music, and so at some point, I just made the conscious decision, I’m going to listen to worship music. Hymns, psalms, spiritual songs, because that’s what I want to nourish my heart and mind. And then, when I do listen to secular music sometimes, it’s like eating McDonald’s. I mean, you don’t want to eat it every day of the week, but if you have it once in a while, it’s probably not going to kill you quickly. We want a healthy diet that keeps us nourished and fed.
Make use, brothers and sisters, on the public preaching of God’s Word. God speaks peculiarly in the preaching of His Word in a way that is unique for our souls. That’s why Paul says to Timothy, “Do this, do this, do this, do this. Give yourself to preaching!” Because it is the preaching of God’s Word that is the particular means of grace given to nourish and fuel our soul. And the sacraments are given to seal that preaching, so we declare the truth of Christ, and then God physically and visibly confirms what we’ve just heard. The preacher says, “Christ is a Savior,” and then we partake in the Lord’s Supper which confirms that truth for us. Don’t miss out. The Lord bountifully spreads before you twice every Lord’s Day His Word. Don’t. Miss. Out.
And I think especially for you who work full-time, this is my last exhortation. Make use of the Sabbath. It’s really hard to spend time in the Word when you work 60 hours a week, right? It’s like, you get up, and you struggle to get up on time because you’re tired, and you work all day, and you come home and guess what? You’re tired! And then you think, “Well, I’ll read some Bible in the evening.” And you read 5 verses, and you realize you were thinking about something else the whole time, because you’re tired. And so you read it again, and you get nowhere. And it’s like, “Aah! I’m just getting nowhere with this, because I’m so tired.” You know, the Lord says, “You’ve been given 6 days to work. I give you a day of worship and rest.” This is one of the joys of the 4 or 5 odd hours in between services. God freely gives you the day to set aside all of the other stuff you have to do. You don’t have to mow the lawn. You don’t have to go to work. You don’t have to do the gardening. You can sit down and feed upon God, and you can be nourished in your soul and go into another week of dreary work refueled and on fire for the Lord.
Be Hearers and Doers
Brothers and sisters, the Proverbs tell us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. And that’s true with how we use our lips, but it’s so much more true of God’s Word, right? The Word of God always brings death or life. And so the question, I guess, is will you heed me this morning? Will you hear? But not just will you hear. It’s easy to hear, right? I mean, anyone with children know this. You say something and you say to your children, “Did you hear me?” They say, “Yeah, I heard you perfectly well.” “Why didn’t you do it? Oh, you were hearing, but you weren’t going to listen.” And we can do that, so easily.
Consider James’ analogy. You remember James? There’s the man who goes up to the mirror and he looks in the mirror, and he goes, “Oh! my face looks like.” And then he turns around and immediately forgets what his face looks like. And James says, “That’s what the man is like who looks into the Word and hears but does not obey.” Let us be hearers and doers of God’s Word. Let us devote ourselves to feeding and nourishing and putting into practice, and may God be pleased to speak to us. As the old hymn says, “Lord, speak to me that I may speak in living echoes of Thy love.” That like the psalmist in Psalm 119 we might say, “I rejoice as one who finds rich spoil,” when we find God’s Word. Amen.