Throughout the Bible we see an interesting and convicting rhythm, a rhythm that gets rapid and is most notable in the gospels. Often when Jesus would talk about His commands, or His words, or His teachings, He would present a one-two cadence of “hearing” and “doing”—a cadence and rhythm that can change the way we do life.
At the close of the sermons in Matthew and Luke Jesus used the analogy of the wise man who built his house on the rock. This was the person who “hears” His words and “puts them into practice.”
In Luke 8 Jesus used the occasion of His family coming to see Him to remind His followers that His mother and brothers are those who hear God’s Word and put it into practice.
In Luke 11, when someone blurted out praise for Jesus’ mother, Jesus was like, “That’s great, thank you, but blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
And an instance that has been personally helpful for me, John 14:21, Jesus tells us that the one who “Has” His commands (take them as your own) and “keeps” them (obey them) will receive a special outpouring of love from God, from Jesus, and also a special reward of Jesus “showing” himself.
I think this is why missions trips and workcamps are so powerful. And knowing we are in the prep season for summer missions trips, this is a good time to use a missions trip to illustrate this powerful rhythm. The trip itself is likely an opportunity to put Jesus’ commands into practice—whether building/repairing houses, or doing medical missions, or sharing the gospel in some way. All of those are a practical instruction you can find in the New Testament and represent ways to obey and do Jesus’ commands. And in these experiences, away from home, on a different schedule, we are likely to be ramping up the time we spend with Jesus words: intentional quiet times, group devotionals. And somewhere in the increased “hearing” and “doing,” Jesus shows Himself to us—we see Jesus in the experience. This is what keeps us wanting more and why those experiences are so powerful.
But this rhythm of “hear” and “do” isn’t just for a workcamp week. It’s a rhythm that is to define our days, our weeks, our years.
James, in his letter, picks up on this rhythm as well with his exhortation to not merely listen to the word, and so deceive ourselves, but to do what it says. James says that if we do this, we’ll be blessed in all we do. That’s a great reward.
In fact, in nearly all of those “hear and do” instances from Jesus, we’re given a reward: a solid life foundation, like a house on the rock (Matthew 7:24); being blessed in general (Luke 11:28); an outpouring of love and a conspicuous showing of Jesus (John 14:21).
This rhythm of hear and do helps us strike the right working balance between our Bible study and our acts of obedience…keeping Bible study from simply being a “holy huddle” experience, as some have called it. And keeping our acts of obedience from turning into meaningless ritual. When we adopt this rhythm, we are DOING out of deep gratitude what our minds and hearts have been HEARING from Scripture.
Check out our FREE TRY THIS small-group exercise on hearing and doing.
Check out our small-group study on James, a whole book on hearing and doing.
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