I knew a man who had a father who was well versed in scripture. His father held great stature among churchgoers and the congregation where he prayed publicly esteemed him. With poetic fervor, his father would pour his heart out to God in prayer, asking for great knowledge in the Holy ways of Jesus Christ. The man's father would quote scripture to greet his brothers and sisters in the Lord. He would smile as he shook the hands of believers and non-believers alike. He would give to his neighbor clothes and food. Do you think the son saw his dad as a godly man?
That was not the full story he told me about his father. All the while, this man's father would neglect his own family. The son would feel the sting of his dad's belt, while his ears would burn with the scriptures proceeding from his father's mouth. As the doors would close the world outside, this father would become filled with rage, filled with fear, filled with evil. Do you think the son saw his dad as a godly man?
DOCTRINE #10: SAY VS. DO
Saying the word of God is not enough. This is only a Right WHAT. God is focused on whether you do the word of God. This is a Right HOW. This is wisdom. If a person justifies himself when the discrepancy between what he says and what he does is pointed out, he is a hypocrite. Hypocrites don't go to heaven.
Question: Do you believe what you SAY is what you DO in all areas of your life?
Next Doctrine: Doctrine #11
Table of Contents
If you need it, here is the support from the Word of God...
SCRIPTURE
"27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We know not. He also said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
28 But what think ye? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in the vineyard.
29 And he answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went.
30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye might believe him." (Matthew 21:27-32)
(Jesus showed it was more important to DO than to SAY. In verse 31 Jesus said that the publicans and the harlots would "go before you". "Before you" meant in your place, and before your eyes. The DOers go to heaven, not the SAYers.)
"6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties:
7 For as he thinketh within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.
8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, And lose thy sweet words.
9 Speak not in the hearing of a fool; For he will despise the wisdom of thy words." (Proverbs 23:6-9)
(The heart is where belief and actions come from! Good and bad can be planted in your heart. This passage said the person who only says all the right things will actually despise the wisdom of your words.)
"7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.
10 And he called to him the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man." Matthew 15:7-11)
(Jesus called these people hypocrites because they SAID the right things, but didn't DO them. Like we saw in the previous Doctrine, this was equated with vain worship and teaching man-made beliefs (tradition) as God's Doctrine. Jesus then specifically told people to understand, to consciously think, to find God's WHY! We've seen the heart is where belief and actions come from. Here's another passage that showed the heart is where belief and actions come from.)
"8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach:
9 because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved:
10 for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame." (Romans 10:8-11)
(The word being in the heart is FAITH and leads to believing unto righteousness. It is good to say it, but the verse Jesus quoted said to believe was enough which is proven in DOING. What you believe is what you do! What you confess is what you say! Align them both with Christ and you will not be put to shame!)
"4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him,
5 Come, eat ye of my bread, And drink of the wine which I have mingled.
6 Leave off, ye simple ones, and live; And walk in the way of understanding." (Proverbs 9:4-6)
(The Bible gave a lot of examples of people SAYING the right thing but NOT DOING the right thing. This passage said the person was simple and void of understanding; they had no WHY. Here's another example of Jesus speaking to people who SAY one thing and DO another.)
"27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous,
30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?" (Matthew 23:27-33)
(Jesus said these people were outwardly beautiful, but dead inside: full of hypocrisy and sin. Jesus said these people claim they wouldn't have killed the prophets, however, Jesus said they were acting just like their fathers, and this hypocritical behavior would lead to hell.)
"48 But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth;
49 and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken;
50 the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not,
51 and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 24:48-51)
(Jesus specifically stated the portion of the hypocrites is in hell. The WHAT in this passage is a "servant," but the HOW/WHY of this servant is "evil." )
"24 Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock:
25 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock.
26 And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:
27 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching:
29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." (Matthew 7:24-29)
(Jesus concluded "The Sermon on The Mount" by stating the rock was DOING the Word of God. Most people think the rock in this story was Jesus or the Word of God (logos). In the previous post, we saw that the Word of God had no effect when mixed with tradition, but it had value when mixed with faith and the deeper why (logos & rhema). We saw the same in this parable because both people heard the word of God and had problems. However, the one who DID the word of God, who made the connection between his life and the Word of God through the deeper why with faith, was profitable/able to stand. He was wise!)
Do your actions prove what you believe? Now we have the SAY and DO pieces and we will be using this foundation in the next few posts.
If someone asked you to do something you considered questionable without giving you a reason why, how would you feel?
What would it look like if someone gave their own "deeper why"?
