Simple Actions Do Make A Difference

I have a rule I try to go by when either meeting with women other than my wife. I try to include another male, leave my office door open and in the case of having to drive some place I either drive separately or make sure we have another man present with us.

I do this not because my wife doesn't trust me or because I have temptations but I do it because it avoids a possible situation where temptation does occur and then my wife will have reason to not trust me.

Today I went to look at some real estate and our agent is an attractive female. I met her at the real estate office and since the property we were going to look at was about 30 miles away she asked if I would like to ride with her. I politely declined and let her know that I have a rule that I do not ride alone with any female other than my wife.

Once we reached our destination she made the comment how much she appreciated what I said when she asked if I wanted to ride with her.

Just a simple action made a big impression. By the way she has read REAL Men RoCK and I could have very easily have made a bad impression because I did not live up to what I talk about here.

Now of course I am not perfect and I often fail at even the smallest things I write about here but this time I passed the test.

Simple Actions Do Make A Difference.

Putting Faith Into Action

Last night I had the opportunity to watch two people put their faith into action.

I was with my daughter as a man worked on the brakes on her car. When he had finished putting the new brakes on she asked him how much she owed him. She had been told that the labor for putting on new brakes was about $100 or maybe a little more. She stood there shocked when he told her $40.

She handed him more than he asked and we left.

Now you might be asking what does this have to do with putting ones faith in action and that is a good question.

Here is my take on what happened.

The guy works as a mechanic in a dealership and gets paid for each car he works on. He has a family and one of his children is a special needs child. The day he worked on my daughter's car was a slow day and he spent all day at the dealership and did not work on any cars so he received no pay for that day. Getting $100 for the brake job would have gone a good way toward replacing the income he did not receive that day.

The church this man attends teaches that we are to help the widows, single moms and orphans. He was putting into practice what he was being taught. The roots of his actions are found in James 1: 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

My daughter is a single mom who is working and going to school. Every dollar is needed as she takes care of four children with little other financial assistance. When she heard him say what he was charging she could have given him exactly what he asked for but instead she gave him more although not as much as she thought she would have to pay. She was practicing what the church she attends in paying a man a fair wage for the services he performed. Her actions are based in Proverbs 3:27-28 (The Message) 27-29 Never walk away from someone who deserves help;
your hand is God's hand for that person. Don't tell your neighbor "Maybe some other time" or "Try me tomorrow" when the money's right there in your pocket. Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting.

Both the man who worked on my daughter's car and my daughter put their faith into action. Their actions were not acts to be saved but acts resulting from their salvation.

As I walked to my car the Holy Spirit moved me to tears because I was able to watch two followers of Jesus acting in such a way that made the Father smile.

Being is Greater than Doing

What do I mean by the title of this post? By the time you are finished reading this post I hope that you will know what I mean and you will be inspired to examine yourself to see if you are being or doing.

I had coffee with a man today who preceives that people at the church he has been attending are shunning him because of possible gossip that is being spread about him in his community. As we talked I shared how when I first began to attend the Vineyard no one spoke or shook my hand even after I had visited 6 times. I shared how I later found out the people of that church had just gone through a painful split and I realized they were wounded and hurting. I shared what I preceived as unfriendiness was actually woundedness. I explained that maybe what he was picking up was a small church mentality and not shunning because of something they had heard.

I am not making excuses for either church but pointing out that sometimes the church comes together to worship God and they do church instead of being the church. When we do church nothing has changed in our lives and we come together to worship and we pretend. When we be the church we live out of our salvation by doing the things Jesus said the church would do.

In Matthew 25: 31-36 we are told that when Christ comes back He will separate the goats fromt he sheep. The sheep are those who gave Him water when He was thirsty, fed Him when He was hungry, clothed Him when He was naked, visited Him when He was sick, when He was a stranger they invited Him in, and when He was in prison they came to Him.

On any given week people who are thirsty and hungry for the truth and for friendship come to our churches. Each week people who are sick or in bond by sin come into our churches. Every week people who feel naked and strange slip into our churches.  

Those doing church see their thirst and hunger, hear of their sickness or bondage, or see their nakedness and stangeness and do n0t grasp their need. They continue to talk with those they already know or hold back from moving up to those in need. It is as if they have blinders on that keep them from seeing or hearing the cries of the needy.

Those who are being the church give water to the thirsty, they feed the hungry, they place hands on the sick, they patiently walk with those in bondage, they cover the naked and make the stranger feel welcome. Their eyes and ears are open to what God is wanting to do in the lives of others. Their hearts feel their pain. They identify with their situation. They take action to bring peace and comfort.

The question for you is: "Are you Doing Church or Are you Being the Church?"

If you read the book of Acts you will find that being a Christian involves ACTION.

Philippians 2
He Took on the Status of a Slave
 1-4 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

I encourage you to become the church that looks Upward to God, Inward to caring for the Body and Outward to those who are Missing from your weekly worship service. Most of all on the day you worship stop focusing on your own needs but keep your ears and eyes open for those who need you to be like Jesus.

Being the Church is so much Greater than Doing Church.

God does not care about how much you know...

Yesterday as I sat listening to our senior pastor, Mark Warner, deliver his sermon, "Do You Know More than You Do?", based on James 2: 14-26 I tried to answer some of the questions he was stirring in me. To listen to his sermon click the title and you will be directed to the Vineyard Church sermon page. I began to ask myself is my faith truly genuine based on the following three areas.

Was my faith more than words?
As I thought about this question I kept saying to myself, "Yes! I am doing more than just talking about the truth."

Was my faith more than doctrine?
As I thought about this question I also kept replying to myself, "Yes!" I not only know doctrine I am putting it into practice.

Was my faith a lonely faith?
Here I answered to myself, "No!" My faith is backed up with serving.

One of the things Mark said that keeps ringing in my ears is, "It is not the truth you know that sets you free and saves you but the truth that moves you to action."

I felt pretty good about how I was living up to those three areas until I woke this morning and answered a phone call from one of my friend's wife. She was calling to let me know that Jeff had died last night. After hanging up the phone what kept going through my mind was those three areas? Did I really show genuine faith in regard to my friend who has for 4 years suffered unemployment, sickness and depression? Was my faith more than words with Jeff? Was my faith more than doctrine in regard to what Jeff faced? Was my faith a lonely faith or did I combine faith and works in regard to my friend, Jeff?

This morning the Holy Spirit convicted me that maybe I was not doing so well in these three areas after all. Maybe I was a little too quick to answer yes when I should have been asking how can I improve.

The point of this post is not to admit I did not help Jeff or that I failed to be there when he needed someone to talk to. The point is I was self righteously answering yes when I should have been asking God to show me how I could improve.

I once heard someone say, "People do not care what you know, they care about whether you care." I think we could change that to "God does not care about how my much you know about His Word, He cares more about how well you put into practice His Word."

This morning the Holy Spirit woke me to the fact that I sometimes think I know more than I do and I definitely do less than I think I do.

What about you? Are you more talk than you are action? If so then I encourage you to quit putting off that visit to a nursing home, that visit to a friend, that involvement with a homeless shelter or whatever need someone you know has and put your faith into action. Tomorrow you just might wake up to a phone call reminding you that it is too late.