Shema!

This is a message I shared in SBC's chapel today, you'll have to excuse the writing style. It's written as if I was speaking it, obviously.

Well, does anyone who was here last semester remember what our theme this year is? Know the Word! Know the word, the word of God, the Bible, as well as Jesus, the living word.

Deut 8:3-4 says this:

And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

As the Israelites were wandering in the desert, God was leading them. He was leading them with a pillar of fire and a cloud, but He also led them by His word. God had spoken to Moses through the burning bush and later on top of Mount Sinai He gave Moses the ten commandments. The people are reminded, in Deuteronomy 8 that they would never of survived if He had just provided them food, they needed to hear the words of God and follow the direction of God to make it through the desert.

Here, the word of God is emphasized.

Now, we can hear the word of God and not be fully impacted by it. The Hebrew word, Shema, does better justice to what God wants us to do with His word than the English word, hear, does. God doesn't just want us to hear His word, He wants us to SHEMA His word. Shema carries more definition than the English word hear.
You can very well hear the words I'm saying but not be paying attention. You can hear the noise coming out of my mouth but not actually listen. It's almost like Charlie Brown. If any of you have ever watched Charlie Brown and remember the teacher whenever Charlie was in class. “Waaaaah. Waaah waah waah.” The teacher is speaking and we can hear that the teacher is saying something, but Charlie Brown isn't LISTENING. The word Shema carries the added definition of listen.
Now, the word “Shema” carries even more definition than just listening. Because we can sit and listen to a sermon, listen to an inspiring preacher, listen to me ramble, listen to professors in class, but do we actually put it into practice? We can listen and completely understand what someone is trying to say, we can completely understand the theory, but do we actually let it impact our lives? Does it change the way we live? Are we obedient to the words? We need to be obedient to God's word. We need to let it impact our lives, we need to let it change the way we live. If we aren't obedient to God's word, what use is hearing it and listening to it? The Israelites understood this, at least for a time, and it's reflected in their language. The word Shema also carries the definition of obey. Now, I've been talking about letting God's word impact us but it goes even further than that. We can not just sit passively and “let” the word of God impact us. We need to take the words of God and put them into action. This is obeying God's word. We need to obey God's word in our actions. We need to Shema God's word. We need to hear, listen, AND obey God's word. This often takes direct action.

We can also read this in James, James 1:22 says:

Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

We can NOT just be hearers, or even listeners of God's word. We MUST be doers, we MUST Shema God's word.

Let's give this a try.

James 2:14-17 says this:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled,"
(Kind of the equivalent of saying, I'll be thinking of you, or I'll be praying for you. Not that prayer doesn't have power, but sometimes we just say it to get out of some sort of moral obligation.)

Saying these things without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

This verse is telling us that we can't just hear what God tells us, we can't just listen and understand that God wants us to help each other where we have the ability to help each other. We can't just know that we have what our fellow student, fellow Christian, or fellow person needs and leave it at that. God is calling us to take action, God is telling us that we need to provide for one another when we are able.
I know that this isn't always the easiest thing to do, putting faith into action. I struggle with this very same thing. Often times what I need is a good swift kick in the butt to focus on God, serve him and obey him. I sometimes need a kick in the butt from someone who is willing, to remind me to put what God is telling me into practice. If that's what you can do, and that's what I need... haha

But what I do know, is that we can NOT just know the word, God is telling us that we need to SHEMA his word.