Exhausted is what I was. Mentally, physically, spiritually. I was tired. It had been a long week and it was only Wednesday. I went to the church early, hoping to have some quiet time before we were inundated with unruly youth. Just after getting to the church, a couple of Junior High girls showed up and asked me if I could take them to go get Heather.

Heather was a young girl that we had been inviting to church for a number of weeks, but every time we went by to pick her up, she had a different excuse for not being able to come that day. Because of my time constraints with work, I picked up kids on Sundays, but did not do so on Wednesdays, and did not want to start–especially not on this day. Did I mention I was tired?

Finally, I became convinced that these girls would not stop bugging me until I finally relented my unrestful state of rest and got up to make a useless trip to Heather’s house, convinced that I was going to hear one more of a long litany of excuses. A few minutes later, when we arrived at Heather’s, she was waiting on the front porch wearing a new dress. She was actually overdressed for our youth group, but she came running to the car, jumped in and back to the church we went.

By the time we arrived, kids were starting to trickle in in increasing numbers and I was not going to get any peace or rest. We started a harried worship service, I taught the lesson, and in front of a large number of kids, Heather came up to the stage at the end of the program to announce that her heart had been touched and she was accepting Jesus as her Savior.

I never got my rest or peace, and yet I went home very refreshed and very peaceful that night! How does that happen? Let’s look at some Scripture:

22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

–James 1:22-25, NIV

To summarize:

• Don’t just learn about the Bible, but figure out how to apply what it says daily!
• It does no good to listen or learn about the Bible and not do what it says.
• It also does no good to listen and then forget.
• We must learn, remember and do!

If we were to take a poll from the youth group to the oldest Sunday School class and everyone in between, and ask them what is the main reason behind why we are supposed to come to church, do you know what the main answer would be? Overwhelmingly, most people say they come to church to learn about God. The second most common answer is to worship. But when asked about “doing the Word,” these same Bible students tend to get a bit fuzzy. They talk about the importance of “being good” and “living in a way that would make Christ proud,” but what does that mean? What does it truly mean to be a “doer of the Word?”
Let’s look at a couple of keys:

 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

–Jesus, (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV)

18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

–Jesus, (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)

• We are commanded to love everybody!
• We are commissioned to reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus and lead them to become disciples of Jesus.

So, we all know that we are supposed to do these things as individuals.  And somehow, my experience has been that when we are obedient to Scripture, there is a sense of accomplishment–a pat on the back if you will.  Real rest and peace results, but if we really want to see our church/class/Bible study groups grow, we must find ways to demonstrate these actions corporately. How do you suggest we as a class, proceed?

Our choices: do nothing and die. . . . or we could . . .