What You Do Matters

James 1:19–25 NLT

19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

I want to talk to you about the importance of what you do because true faith can not be separated from action.

I’ve had times where my wife sent me to the store to pick some things up. She told me what we needed and I nodded my head and said, “I got it.” Only, on the way to the store, I forgot half of the list.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever been a “forgetful hearer?”

And what about when it comes to spiritual things. How many times have we heard the Spirit-inspired Word of God only to forget about it just moments later?

What you do matters. What you do in response to the word of God determines the blessing on your life. You will not be blessed because of your good intentions.

I have had times in my life where I had a project or a task that I was planning on getting to. And would you believe that sometimes on the very day I am going to do something I come to do that very thing only to find my wife in the process of doing it? Or even worse, I find that she just finished it. And I’ve had times where I said, “I was just about to do that!” But she doesn’t appreciate my intention or my words in that moment because I didn’t just do that thing. She did.

There is blessing attached to God’s word and to His will. And that blessing is available to us. He watches over His promises to see them come to pass (Jeremiah 1:12). We need to focus on our response to His word so that we can walk in those blessings.

The Obedience of Faith

Simply agreeing with the word of God is not enough for us to live the abundant and superior life that Jesus invites us into (John 10:10).

For example, we can believe in the power of prayer but if we don’t pray we won’t experience its power.

Our agreement does not equal belief. Belief leads to action — if you don’t believe something is important or necessary, you won’t do it.

What makes the obedience of faith more difficult is that it is easier to intend to do something but actually harder to do it (cf. Romans 16:26). And it is even more difficult when we consider that there is resistance both within and without.

But it is important—essential even—to learn how to both speak and do if we want to walk in blessing (James 2:12). We need to agree with the word of God and act upon it in faith.

And the good news is that we can do just that. In fact, God has honored us by giving us the ability to choose our actions. We can, and should, honor Him by choosing to live life on His terms in faith and obedience.

Working By Faith

The story of King Saul in 1 Samuel 15 offers us a clear picture of the importance of what we do in the context of our relationship with God and with others.

1 Samuel 15:1–3 NKJV

1 Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”

Saul was anointed King and sent on a mission from God. As we will see, he did not complete his mission and it cost him the blessing of God on his life.

There are four things that his story teaches us about the importance of what we do.

Commit Completely

1 Samuel 15:4–9 NKJV

4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

In the last verse the author gives us an important key to understanding what went wrong with Saul. The text reports that they were unwilling to utterly destroy all that was good.

1 Samuel 15:17–21 NKJV

17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Did Saul do everything that God told him to do? No. Did you notice that he said he obeyed God?

Despite saying that he obeyed the Lord, Saul admits to partial obedience and he blames the people for his lack of total obedience.

When it comes to following God and His word we have to commit completely. This is why Jesus tells us to count the cost before choosing to take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 14:25-33).

Illustration: When you say “I do” to marriage vows you are committing to do so all of the time. Not two days a week, etc.

If you are going to be blessed by God you have to be willing to do whatever He tells you. And when you choose to respond in faith you want to do everything He says. Partial obedience is not obedience and won’t lead to your blessing.

If you want the blessing, you have to commit completely.

Let God Be God

1 Samuel 15:22–23 ESV

22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

In Samuel’s response to Saul, we see some of the lies we believe that keep us from doing the works of faith.

God prefers obedience to obeisance. With God, it is not better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. We listen and obey, not go and do our own thing and then come back to God with sacrifices to ask Him for His blessing (and forgiveness).

Rebellion is as the sin of divination—doing your own thing is presuming that you can predict the future. Only God knows the future.

Presumption is as sinful as idolatry—presuming you know everything is essentially putting yourself above God. Only God knows everything.

Rejecting God’s word is rejecting God. And that leads to the loss of His blessing.

Each of these four lies essentially equate to one thing: we don’t trust God to be God.

How foolish is it for us to decide for ourselves what our future will look like and what we need to do to make it happen! How often do we neglect God’s word and step on our own path only to later come back to ask Him to bless it?

Psalm 50:21–23 NKJV

21 These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes. 22 “Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces, And there be none to deliver: 23 Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”

Let God be God. You are not Him. Trust Him and He will lead you into your future and blessing.

Ignore the Outsiders

1 Samuel 15:24–25 NKJV

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”

1 Samuel 15:30–31 NKJV

30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

If we are going to live a life that pleases God then we will have to ignore those who are outside looking in.

Saul said that the reason of his sin was that he feared the people and obeyed their voice. Later, he wanted to still keep up appearances and have Samuel honor him before those same people.

Illustration: Peter and the apostles on trial— “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

Have a higher opinion of God’s thoughts that that of everyone else. And in areas that there is conflict, ignore outsiders who are not privy to your conversation and relationship with God.

Consider the Consequences

1 Samuel 15:32–35 NKJV

32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

Even though Saul didn’t finish the work that God called him to, the work God done. The sad thing is that someone else had to pick up and do what God gave Him to do.

Additionally, because Saul did not do what God called him to do, his relationship with Samuel was forever changed. Samuel was so grieved that he prayed and cried out to the Lord all night when God told him what Saul did (1 Samuel 15:10).

God’s plans will be accomplished even if not through you.

Your disobedience may have significant impact on your ministry and your relationships. Saul lost the kingdom and his closest friend.

When it comes to God’s word and His will for your life, consider the consequences of your actions. Sometimes what you don’t do will impact others. But your obedience leads to blessing.

Conclusion

Being a doer of the word leads to blessing. What you do matters so

Commit Completely

Let God Be God

Ignore the Outsiders

Consider the Consequences

If we do these things we will see that our obedience leads to blessing. We’ll also see that God will trust us with more (word, opportunity, ministry, etc.).

Ultimately we will life the kind of faith-filled life that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). That’s why what you do matters.