The Hearers and The Doers of God Word

 Be Hearer and Doer Of The Word of God And Enjoy Its Benefits

BY Emmanuel ADOGUN

It is written in Romans 2:13 King James Version (KJV)

HEARER OR A DOER OF THE WORD

13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

The first question is what is the meaning of hearers and doers?

MEANING OF HEARERS

There are so many dictionary meaning of HEARERS and some of them are as followed

 1. To perceive by the ear

2. To learn by the ear or by being told

3. To listen to; give or pay attention to

4. One who hears; a devout listener.

MEANING OF DOERS

Some of the dictionary meaning of DOER is

 1. A person or thing that does something, especially a person who gets things done with vigor and efficiency.

2. A person characterized by action, as distinguished from one given to contemplation.

3. Someone who gets actively involved in something, rather than just thinking or talking about it

DOERS OF THE WORD

  

Receiving, reading, researching, remembering, and reflecting on the Word of God are all useless if we fail to put them into practice. We must become doers of the word (James 1:22).

I understand this is a hard step, because Satan fights it so intensely. He doesn’t mind you going to Bible studies as long as you don’t do anything with what you learn. We fool ourselves when we assume that just because we have heard or read or studied a truth, wehave internalized it.

Actually, you can be so busy going to the next class or seminar or Bible conference that you have no time to implement what you’ve learned. You forget it on the way to your next study. Without implementation, all our Bible studies are worthless. Jesus said, 

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24 NIV).

Naaman as a case study

NAAMAN LEPROSY WAS LIKE THIS HAND BEFORE IT WAS HEALED

Let take a look at the story Naaman who had a leprosy in 2 Kings 5:1-14King James Version (KJV) you will discover that he had theword of God but it was not willing to obey. Let read...

5 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because byhim the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife.

3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.

4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.

5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.

6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.

7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.

8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

NAAMAN SKIN WAS LIKE TH SKIN OF THIS BABY AFTER HE WAS HEALED

you will discover that Naaman hadthe word of God from the mouth of the prophet Elisha and he was not willing to be a doer of the word of God, and if not for his servant who came to advise him to be a doer of the word, he would have missed is healing.

This is case of must children of God, they hear the word everyday but they are not willing to be a doer of the word and in so doing they have missed their blessing.

I want you to ask yourself this question, am i a doer of the word or a hearer only? According to  James 1:22-25 New International Version (NIV)

22 Do not merely listen to the word,and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror

24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

There are three categories of people:

•Those who do not hear

•Those who only hear

•Those who hear and do

God wants us to hear in order thatwe might do. "The most attentive and the most frequent hearing of the word of God will not avail us, unless we are also doers of it. If we were to hear a sermon every day of the week, and an angel from heaven were the preacher, yet, if we rested in bare hearing, it would never bring us to heaven. Therefore the apostle insists much upon it (and, without doubt, it is indispensably necessary) that we practice what we hear" (M. Henry).

Someone has well written:

It’s easier to preach than to practice;

It’s easier to say than to do.

Most sermons are heard by the many,

But taken to heart by the few.

The person who only hears and doesn't do is like the person who audits a class rather than takes it for credit. J. Vernon McGee says:

 McGee says:

“There are many books which you can read to gain information, knowledge, intellectual stimulation, spiritual inspiration, amusement, or entertainment. But the Word of God is different, and this is probably the reason it is not as popular as other books: it demands action… You can read history, but it asks nothing of you. You can read literature, but there are no imperatives, no declarations, and no explanations, although it may have a lesson to teach which may or may not have been in the mind of the author. You can read science, but it makes no demands on you whatsoever. You can read a cookbook and it gives you a recipe, but it does not say you have to cook. There is no demand that you mix up a batch of biscuits or that you make a chocolate cake. However, the Word of God is a command. It is a trumpet. It is an appeal for action. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36)…”

A Man Observing his face in the mirror

1. The Bad Example (23-24). "If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. "

The one who hears without doing “is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror” (NIV). Mirrors in ancient days were not like today’s glass mirrors, but they did enable someone to get a good look at himself and in so doing, see what grooming needed to be done.

What does a man see when he looks in the mirror? He observes "his face." The expression James uses literally means “the face of his birth.” James Ropes calls it “the face that nature gave him.” The mirror doesn't lie. It tells the truth. What he sees it what he looks like.

A MAN OBSERVING HIMSELF IN THE MIRROR

Kent Hughes tells a story of a missionary out in the bush hanging a small mirror on a tree in order to shave. The local witch doctor happened by and curiously looked into the strange glass—and seeing her hideously painted features she jumped back! Immediately she began to bargain with the missionary for the mirror. The man objected, but to no effect. Finally, realizing that the witch doctor would not be put off, he let her have the mirror—whereupon she threw it to the ground, breaking it to pieces, shouting, “There … it won’t be making ugly faces at me anymore!”

The mirror James is talking about isGod’s Word. When we look into God’s Word we see ourselves as we really are. That is good because that is supposed to lead us to Christ and then on to be like him. But some are satisfied with looking in the mirror and thinking we have accomplished all that God requires.

But what happens to this man? After seeing himself in the mirror he "goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was." Out of sight, out of mind. Sometimes when we see ourselves in a mirror we want to walk away and forget what we look like (hair blown, double chin, bald head, wrinkles, etc.). But it is a great tragedy to walk away from looking in God's word and forget what we saw. The person who does that has failed to respond to the word. And he gets no benefit from the word either.

Mirrors speak to us. They say "wash your face," "comb your hair," "shave that stubble," or "brush those teeth." After looking into the mirror we are supposed to do what it told us we should do! If we don't, then the mirror is of no practical benefit to us.

And the same is true of God's word…

Conclusion

If you want to enjoy the blessings of god, you must be a doer of the word. There are so many blessing written in the bible that those who are doer of the word are enjoying today. When you go through Deuteronomy 28:1-13, you will discover a lot of blessing which god promised the doer of the word.

Also a curse is placed on those who are not doer of the word. When you go through Deuteronomy 28:15-25, you will be see a lot of curses that God place on those who are not doers of the word.

So my advice to you is to be a doer of the word.