Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Be a Doer, Not Just a Hearer

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22, ESV).
 
  “Obey God’s message!  Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it” (CEV).
 
 
 
            The Word of God has not been truly received until it is put into practice.  This is a consistent theme in the New Testament.  Paul warned the church in Rome:  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the law who will be declared righteous (Romans 2:13).  Our Lord Jesus himself stated the same truth:  Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it (Luke 11:28). 
 
The person who only hears is like a Mr. Potato Head that is only ears.  He can’t stand because he has no feet.  He cannot do anything because he has no hands.  Mr. Potato Head needs some feet so that he can follow Jesus wherever he goes.  And he needs hands so he can do God’s will.
 
Listening to the Word without obedience is just that – it is mere hearing.  Profession of faith in Jesus means nothing without a practice of that faith; learning the Bible is useless without living it; and acceptance of the Word is nothing more than a mental exercise without action to back it up.  Profession, knowledge, and acceptance alone does not satisfy God’s plan for our lives. 
 
The danger is that we have the potential to deceive ourselves into thinking we are okay just because we know the right things and believe the right things.  Christianity is a vital love relationship with Jesus, and, so, is not merely a matter of hearing and affirming orthodoxy; it also involves orthopraxy, that is, having right practice, the doing of truth.
 
True hearing leads to true response.  When my firstborn daughter was still in the womb, I constantly talked to her.  I was in seminary at the time, and I would come home and read her fairy tales in Hebrew.  I spoke to her when I got up in the morning and when I went to bed.  I told her all about how God was going to bless her and do great things through her.  I told her of Jesus and his love for her.  I practiced my sermons and Sunday School lessons on her – all before she was born.
 
When the day came that God graced us with her birth, the nurses took her and she cried and cried.  She cried so much and so hard that I finally said to them, “Let me hold her.”  The minute I held her, I began speaking to her, and what happened next got the attention of everyone in the room:  little baby Sarah immediately got quiet.  It was like that the entire time she was in the hospital.  The only time she was happy was when I was speaking to her.  It would be no surprise for you to know that Sarah has always been a Daddy’s girl.
 
We respond to God’s voice when we recognize it.  If we are not in the habit of responding to God’s Holy Word, it is likely that we do not know his voice.  Baby Sarah did not need a lesson on how to respond to me; she knew exactly who I was:  her father.  Do we know our heavenly Father?  Can we distinguish his voice?  The greatest need that we all have is to be servants of God who hear his voice and respond to it, and not soakers who just sit and hear without any response at all.
 
Whenever we refuse to love the unbelievers around us, we are not hearing God and doing his will.  When we listen to the gospel, but then have no intention of sharing that same gospel with others, we are being disobedient.  When we hear about how God forgives us in Jesus’ name, but then we insist on not forgiving another person, we are not being doers of the Word.  When we read the Holy Scriptures as an end in itself without the expressed intent of doing whatever we find in it, then we merely hearing.
 

 

            The Bible is only boring and irrelevant when we read it with no intention of doing what it says.  This is why whenever we read it we need to write out what action we are going to do after having read it.  This is also why the church needs to corporately and collectively covenant together to act on what they hear from God’s Word as they examine it together.  Without this, we are only a random collection of individuals listening to a talking-head preacher.  We go home and forget what we just heard.  Instead, let us act in unity and purpose to do what we find in Holy Scripture.  Can you imagine even just one church who devotes themselves to such a sacred task, and what impact it would have in the world?

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            To be comforted and to comfort others when there is grief, bereavement, or trouble is not a luxury but a significant need which we all possess.  Without comfort there is an abundance of people getting stuck in some stage of denial, anger, bargaining, and/or depression.  The Apostle Paul started off his epistle to the Corinthians mentioning the word “comfort” 10 times in 5 verses.  It is a beautiful word, full of wonderful meaning. 
 
            It is likely that all of us have had both good and bad experiences with others in our own personal season of grief.  Whatever has been said to us of assistance, we can emulate.  And whatever has been said which was unhelpful, we can determine to avoid in assisting others.  Here is the “what” and the “why” of biblical comfort:  We are to come alongside and walk with another through grief, offering helpful words and actions, until the person can accept the new situation and move on.
 
            Now here is the “how:” The way people get unstuck from grief and move on is through telling their story.  The power of listening well to others’ stories is grossly underrated and is vitally needed today.  Spending time with another, asking loving questions, and offering ears to listen, mimics what God does for us in our grief.  He always has a listening ear.  He knows grief better than all of us, because he saw the agonizing death of his one and only Son.  But through Jesus hope is reawakened.  Because of Jesus, there is a future resurrection awaiting us and our loved ones.  Our grief will be turned to joy, and our comfort will overflow.  Thank you, Jesus.
 

 

            Saving God, you have acted with the ultimate love by sending your Son, the Lord Jesus to this earth.  He is familiar with suffering, and knows grief inside and out.  Thank you for the comfort that you offer through the redemptive events of Jesus.  Let your Holy Spirit shape me into one who is both comforted, and is able to comfort others.  Amen.

Matthew 21:28-32

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Jesus was killed for a reason.  He often said shocking things to the crowds of people that did anything but endear many of them to him.  Today’s Gospel lesson has our Lord putting the religious leaders on their spiritual heels with a parable packed with a punchline:  “You can be sure that tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you ever will!”  Now, there’s a recipe for conflict!  But the sobering truth of Christianity is that in Christ’s upside-down kingdom the spiritual insiders are really on the outside and the spiritual outsiders are the ones who will receive God’s promises.
 
            Like many portions of Scripture, this lesson is both a warning and an encouragement.  It is a warning to all the spiritually serious and uptight among us about being obsessed with correctness, checking off right beliefs on our spiritual checklists, and placing mercy and obedience as of only secondary importance.  But it is an encouragement to all of us moral failures with the wonderful possibilities of a changed life full of grace and love. 
 
            Talk is cheap.  Paying lip service to God, and not loving submission to Jesus, is hollow and means nothing.  What matters most, because we are all in need of grace, is repentance and a willingness to let God transform us into the likeness of Christ.  Anything less will result in the door of God’s kingdom being shut in our face.  Take several minutes to read over the parable two or three times, and be honest about how you fit into the story.  Christ’s kingdom parables are not just for other people; they are for us all.  For, to change our minds and believe is the true work of God in us.
 

 

            Lord Jesus, you pry with merciful intensity into my life.  Do your faithful work of convicting me of sin, and change me into a servant fit for the kingdom of God.  Amen.

1 Peter 5:1-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Humility is the consummate virtue of the believer in Jesus.  “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  Without humility there is no grace because there is no recognition of the need for God.  We wrongheadedly think we can do just fine on our own, thank you very much.  So, how’s that been working for you lately?  Are you frustrated, worried, and/or despondent?  Humility opens to us the wide vistas of God’s love and mercy.  A humble spirit makes church leadership both possible and bearable because the building of the church ultimately rests with Christ.  A humble spirit helps relieve the anxious worries that wash over us because our care is really in the hands of God.  A humble spirit enables us to resist the devil and remain strong in faith because Satan has nothing we want.  A humble spirit fortifies us to stay steady through suffering because we share in the sufferings of Jesus, and it is a privilege.
 
            This isn’t just some biblical spin-doctoring in order to have a positive attitude in the middle of crappy circumstances; humility really is the virtue to which we all need to aspire.  Genuine spiritual humility actually delivers what we need the most:  to rest secure in the merciful arms of God.  And it is what this old world needs the most of, and to which we must reinforce in all of our church leadership appointments, political elections, and work staffing.  No amount of brains and hard work can make up for a lack of humility.  God will be in control forever, and the sooner we sync our lives with this truth the better off we will be.
 

 

            Sovereign God, you cause people and nations to rise and to fall.  I place my complete trust and devotion in you.  With all the humility I can muster, I bow to you and submit to your gracious work in my life and in the life of the world.  Shoo pride far from me, and let me share in your sufferings so that I might share in your glory through Jesus Christ, my Lord.  Amen.