Acting on God’s Word
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
John 4:31-34 “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." (32) But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." (33) Therefore, the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" (34) Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
Hearing the word of God is not the only source of spiritual food for our spirits, for Jesus mentioned another source of spiritual food in the above quoted passage of scripture when He said that doing the will of God was food for His spirit. Doing the will of God involves acting on the word of God. And so we see that another factor that is required for our spirits to grow strong, is acting on the word of God. As with most of that which we have discussed in this section this aspect of spiritual growth also correlates with our walk in the natural. In the natural, if we exercise our physical muscles they will grow stronger and if we neglect those same muscles they will grow weaker. There is no way around it, for we can read all the books on how to exercise our physical bodies to make them grow stronger, but until we put what we have learnt into practice nothing changes. In other words we can have all the knowledge there is on the subject, but our bodies remain the same and grow weaker until we get out there and put into practice that which we have learnt, and that takes physical effort. In the spirit the principle remains the same, i.e. in order to grow strong in spirit we are going to have to exercise our spiritual muscles, so to speak. In other words we can read our bible all we want and listen to as many teaching CD’s as we like, but until we begin to put into practice that which we have learnt, nothing will change in the spirit, and that takes spiritual effort.
1 Corinthians 3:1-7 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; (3) for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (4) For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? (5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? (6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. (7) So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture to show that it is the Lord’s ministers that feed the church with the solid food of God’s word. But in this section I want to discuss the reason why the apostle Paul was prevented from feeding the church at Corinth with the solid food of God’s word. We can see from this passage that God uses His ministers to plant the seed of His word and also to water the seed, but that it is God Himself that causes the seed to grow. And so we see a spiritual truth, which is that God causes our spirits to grow. But this passage of scripture reveals to us that the church at Corinth had stopped growing spiritually, which is why Paul could only feed them with the milk of God’s word. We can also see from this passage that God’s ministers had done their part, for Paul had planted the seed and Apollos had watered the seed, but nevertheless God had withheld the increase. So why is that? The reason is because they were not acting on the word that they had already received, for they were still walking in envy, strife and division, instead of walking in love. And so because of that the Lord would not allow any further revelation to be given to them, and Paul was constrained to feeding them with that which their minds could understand i.e. the milk of God’s word, and nothing more. Sadly that is the spiritual condition of many in the church today, i.e. they can only be fed with the milk of God’s word because they refuse to put into practice that which God has already revealed to them.
James 1:22-25 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; (24) for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (25) But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
We have seen in the previous passage that because they were negligent in acting on the word that they had already received, that the church at Corinth were prevented from receiving any further revelation from the Lord. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle James confirms that same truth to us, for he teaches us that believers who fail to act on God’s revealed word deceive themselves. I want you to notice that the believers he refers to in this passage are diligent hearers of God’s word. In other words they regularly attend church meetings and most probably even read their bibles frequently, and yet we are told that they are still deceiving themselves. So, what does the Holy Spirit mean when He says that they deceive themselves? Their deception is that they think they are growing spiritually, but in reality they are not growing at all, and if anything they are actually becoming weaker spiritually. I want you to also notice that the quality of the word that they hear doesn’t impact their lives at all, for they could even be sitting under the anointed teaching of the apostle Paul himself and that would be of no benefit to them. So why is that? The reason is that the moment these believers hear the word of God they immediately forget what they have heard. In other words their minds have become blinded to receiving any further truths in God’s word. This is a sad spiritual truth but nevertheless it is true. I have tested it many times by asking saints what their pastor taught them in the previous Sunday service, and more often than not they have no idea and cannot remember anything he said. There is no getting around it. If we want to grow strong in spirit we are going to have to act on the word of God that has already been revealed to us, for until we do we will not receive any further revelation from God’s word.
Ephesians 4:16 “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that the body of Christ grows when each individual member in the body does its share. In other words the spiritual growth of the corporate body of Christ only takes place when the church acts on the word of God. And so if the church cannot grow unless we act on God’s word, then most certainly no individual member of the body is going to grow spiritually unless they too act on God’s word.
Michael E.B. Maher
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