Hearer of the Word versus Doer of the Word

Everyone in the congregation was nodding their heads in total agreement. Perhaps you were too as you read along.

Then I said to them, and I say to you now, a mom who is not a believer in Jesus Christ can do all of those things. She can be just as good of a mother for her children, and maybe even better in some areas. Unbelieving moms can do the same things that believing mom can do. And we know that anything an unbeliever can do cannot be the Christian life. Think about that for a moment. Anything an unbeliever can do cannot be the spiritual life that we are mandated to live. So what is the difference?

The difference is not in the activities themselves. The difference is power behind the thinking that motivates correct decisions and actions. The believer has access to divine power for everything he or she thinks, decides, or does. That power is the filling of the Holy Spirit and the power of God’s word firmly embedded in the soul, both which together are the power for living the spiritual life. The unbeliever has neither of those.

As you probably know, the believer loses the filling of the Holy Spirit every time he or she sins and regains it by following the procedure laid out in 1 John 1:9, which says, “If we confess (or name) our sin (to God the Father), He is faithful and just to forgive us or sin and purify us from all wrong doing.” So by simply naming our sin, we regain the power that is critical to our spiritual life.

So the power of the Holy Spirit is the first distinction made between the good deeds of the believer versus those of the unbeliever which can only be done under the control of the inherent nature of mankind, the sin nature.

The second distinction is the thinking, motives, and decisions that lead to actions, with thinking being the critical component behind it all. Proverbs says that “as a man thinks, so he is.” But do Christians really think differently than unbelievers? Not necessarily.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing (or renovating) of your thinking that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable and perfect (the maturing spiritual life).”

Conformed to this world is how we all start out on day one as Christians. The moment we believe in Jesus Christ through faith alone in Christ alone, God the Holy Spirit gives us many wonderful absolutes that can never be taken away (e.g. God’s righteousness imputed, His eternal life, permanent placement in the family of God, and in union with Christ so that we share all that Christ is and all that Christ has, etc.) But although we are positionally in Christ, our thinking and manner of life are the same. Sure, our thinking has changed regarding Jesus Christ; we see him now as our Savior. But our thinking regarding life and problems and adversities of life has not changed. And our sin nature trends have not changed.

Our soul, which has grown up in the way the world operates, must be renovated to the thinking of Christ so that we can come to operate in the newness of life given to us at the moment of our salvation. We have newness of life in that we are regenerated and have a new life in Christ, but we are still mired in our old ways, in our previous way of thinking. To change that thinking, we must learn God’s Word. Thus we must be hearers of the Word.

In Philippians 2:5, we are mandated to “have this attitude (or thinking) in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 2:16 says that “we have the mind of Christ” available to us. Just think about that. Jesus Christ, who was the founder and perfecter of our faith, according to Hebrews 12:2, lived the unique spiritual life, and then He gave it to us. We have available to us the same thinking that sustained Christ through every problem, adversity, and suffering that He endured (refer to boldgraceministries.org Blog on 1 May, titled “The Founder and Perfecter”).

In 2 Peter 3:18, we further commanded to “grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” In fact, the Apostle Paul refers to this in Philippian 3:8 as “the surpassing value of the knowing Christ Jesus our Lord” so that we can “gain Christ.” As believers, we must be consistent hearers if we are ever going to be doers of the Word.

Hearing accurate Bible teaching is critical because without hearing, we will never be a doer. But even more importantly, we must be doers of the Word as James exhorts us to be in James 1:22-25. However, the word doer needs some explanation. In the original Greek text, the word for doer is POIETES, and it means to be a doer in your mind first. It means doer by thinking. The Christian life is thinking first, and that thinking may nor may not result in an actual overt action. For the Word of God to be effective in our lives, it can’t be on the pages of Scripture. It has to be embedded in our souls. We have to internalize it. We have to hear it, we have to believe what we hear, and then process it in our thinking—consider it, ponder it, internalize it. And we have to do it consistently. Once a week on Sunday will not cut it. The word of God will never become muscle memory for use in our life without that consistency and persistence.

So what exactly is a doer of the Word? The doer is Christian who when faced with a problem, a trouble, a difficulty, an adversity, or suffering, can recall a promise from the Word of God in his or her soul and apply it to the situation. The doer is one who knows the essence of God and thinks about how God’s sovereignty allowed this situation for his benefit, and how God is omniscient and knows all about it—it was no surprise to God. The doer knows God is omnipotent and He has already put together a perfect solution that will be provided in God’s perfect timing.

And what is the end result? The doer is relaxed under the pressure with a calm demeanor, a contentment and tranquility, and a poise that becomes a witness for all in his periphery. The doer of the Word produces evidence of the power of the spiritual life, the power of God, and the power of God’s Word for all to see.