A Little Less Talk, a Little More Action… and Teaching

Oct. 22

Read: Ezra 7

Little Less Talk, a Little More Action… and Teaching.

I have a confession to make to you all: over the course of fifteen some odd years working vocationally as a pastor I became out of touch with the life of a “normal” Christian. It is easy to do when you are working for the church. Most pastors will not admit it though… or simply do not know. What can happen over time is an overestimation of the effectiveness of what the church is doing and a presumption that it is working in the lives of the people. Likewise, the biblical truths and ideas that are foundational to God’s people can become more and more cliche’-like… sort of like Christian tagline or slogans. We rely on these slogans and pithy sayings, but are surprised to find a gap between the “advice” and its application in the “real world”. In the end, this type of teaching lacks power and the people of God lack direction. This leads to a whole lotta talk and not much action. What makes it hard as a pastor / leader in the church is that we are trying to lead people into “doing” in a context or way that we (church leaders / employees) have not done ourselves. (Or when we did… it was so long ago and culture has changed so much that we do not remember what it was like.) This is why I am so inspired by Ezra as a priest of the people of God.

My friend, and fellow pastor, Peter Hammond pointed these verses out to me a couple weeks ago:

“the good hand of his God was on (Ezra). For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” (v.9b,10)

Ezra was a man of God whose “heart was set” on studying the “Law of the Lord”. What comes next is the most inspiring part for me - Ezra didn’t just study the Law of the Lord but his heart was also set on DOING IT before he taught it. We may be tempted to learn and then teach without making that stop in between to actually “do”. I love this progression: learn, do, then teach. I DO believe that pastors (myself included) are seeking to do (for the most part) but admit from my own experience that sometimes we are carrying out our “doing” in a somewhat unique “bubble”. This is why leaders must never become so separated from the people they are leading as to realize that their coaching in the “doing” of God’s word is not applicable to the everyday person.

I do want to mention that there is another pitfall that the people of God must avoid, and that is “doing” without any knowledge or study of the scriptures. When we seek to “do” according to our own ideas and standards we may find ourselves running after the wrong things… or doing the right things at the wrong time… or for the “wrong” people. This is why Ezra’s pattern of a heart committed to study and learning before doing and teaching is so helpful. The most effective “discipleship” of others will come from this model. The last thing the church needs is more people espousing ideas and principles that have no grounding in the word of God OR in actual application.

What is YOUR heart set upon? What is it that you “study”? Are you actually DOING what the scriptures are telling you to do? For those of you that the Lord has been blessing your learning and doing, who then are you teaching? Ezra was a Godly priest for the people. God’s hand was upon him. He was “a man learned in matters of the commandments of the LORD and his statutes for Israel.” (v.11) In Christ we are ALL called to be a “royal priesthood”. (cf. 1 Peter 2:9) May we follow Ezra’s example. Learn, Do, Teach. Love you guys. - JDP