WORD AND DEED

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Shane W. Roessiger | Comments (0)

"Father, we have the desire to be in You and with You. We want our words to be our deeds. May our words be "Yea" and "Nay". We don’t want our words to fall to the ground. Whatever we say, let there be fruits thereof." Let us do what we say so we continue in the Truth.

Matthew 5:32-48 tells us about our commitment to our own words. A lot of words nowadays are being said out of emotions or out of man-pleasing. But God wants us to say it and to do it. Words and deeds are always being manifested by us. Even when we repent... we say "sorry”, but even though we feel bad, we need to make things right. So many times, saying “sorry” has just become a vocabulary practice. Let us not use this word as we react but let us be in sincerity and Truth. In this passage, in verse 37, you see Jesus telling us this: "But let your communication be, Yea, yea; and your Nay, Nay." We said "yes" to God as a marriage vow. But our yes turned into a "no". This could very convincingly be just like Jesus saying about worshipping with our lips, but our heart is far from what the lips are saying. Then it is introduced as lip service, not as word and deed. There are only words but no deed. There is no covenant with God and one another. When you tell someone, “Yes", stick to it. When you tell someone, “No", stick to it. But your “no” can turn into a “yes”. It is better to do it this way than to say “yes” and then not to do what we said we were going to do it and be real about our heart and its intentions. When we are men and women of our words, deeds always manifest.

People don’t keep their word, not to God or to man. This does not please God. We must be reliable - a people of commitment. Some have a habit of not keeping their words. They show no deeds ever. We say "yes" to God and to men, but our deeds manifest our "no" to God and men. God wants to perfect us in this area. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," verse 47. Just as Jesus was perfect. Jesus did not say, "Yes, I will go," and never show up. Jesus was a man of words and deeds.

God is speaking about keeping our word given unto Him and unto one another. Why are we so fast to commit or to say yes? It is because we have a heart to please man. But if most of the time our deeds never back up our words Then we become a bad witness. When we are committed to something, that something must become first. People honor themselves more than they honor their words. Let your "Yea" be yea; and your "Nay" be Nay"!

In Colossians 3, verse 17 says, “Whatsoever you do, do in words and in deed...and in Colossians 3:23-24, "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ." God is always testing us and checking if we are following our words through. Just to feel bad about breaking a commitment is not enough. We must make sure next time we give our word to show some deeds! Some people don’t want to commit to anything. No covenant. No words. No deeds. This is not the kind of person Jesus was so neither shall it be with us. We are to become as He was and is.

Why does God test us? To reveal our hearts. A heart without commitment is a heart without covenant. 1 John 3:18-19 says, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." Some people say, "I love you sister", "I love you brother", but when love is tested, they fail. There is no way to love without commitment. They love in words and not in deeds. Where there are words and deeds, we will always bear the fruit! How can we have faith in one another if we are not reliable?

Let's talk about repentance. People say, "I repent", "I acknowledge my sin", and "I am sorry", but is it really repentance? The world says repentance is the act of saying sorry or asking for forgiveness for sins and wrongdoings. They will say repentance is praying to God for forgiveness. The world has the wrong definition of repentance if we compare it to God’s definition of it. The world says that repentance is being sorrowful, it is being regretful, it is saying “I am sorry”, or it is feeling guilt and being filled with shame and remorse. But that is not what the Bible and God call repentance. Repentance is not a feeling. But He uses our feelings to lead us to repentance. At the same time, if we just feel bad but don’t make it right then repentance just becomes words and not deeds. If we just say, “I am sorry, I feel bad, I hurt someone…this or that...that is called worldly sorrow that leads to death (2 Corinthians 7:10). Godly sorrow leads to life and freedom. It's better, of course, to have remorse, and we have seen people that are so cold that don’t have that. Though remorse may get us a leaner sentence with a worldly judge, that does not move God.

God is simple! This is how repentance really is in the eyes of God: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life; to rearrange your entire way of thinking, feeling, and being in order to forsake that which is wrong; to go one way, to stop, to turn and not to do it any longer – that is when we humble ourselves…Then we know that we are clean. Real repentance really shows deeds. John the Baptist says, "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance," Matthew 3:8. Bring forth words and deeds (actions), the fruits are the change. It is the love for God that draws us to repent. We love Him so much that we run to repent. It is not a matter of just feeling bad. We love God so much that we change our ways and seek His power to change us – that is the power of the cross.

Read 2 Corinthians 7:1-11. In verse 9, Paul says, "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing." Feeling sorrow is not enough. We must be sorry towards repentance and shows deeds! Just saying sorry is not enough to hold up your word! We must desire to kill everything that is killing us or we will never manifest deeds. Until the roots are gone, the fruits always come back. Paul was looking for sorrow unto repentance. It is not just a matter of feeling sorrow, but sorrow unto repentance. Worldly sorrow makes you mad for not following up your vows, your words, or for not bringing forth any deeds of what you have said. The sorrow of the world brings death, but godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation! True repentance has the fruits of what? Freedom, joy, righteousness!

Hebrews 12:8-17 talks about holiness which means being set apart. If you say, "Yea", you keep it; If you say, "Nay", you keep it. And if you don’t keep both, you must show fruits of repentance. Kill what is killing your commitment unto God and men! When you repent, God cleans your conscience. Whatever you did wrong is gone! No longer needing to be saying "sorry" all the time. People that don’t repent get roots of bitterness. They get defiled by them. Esau found no place for repentance. He knew he was wrong, but his words were filled with worldly sorrow and filled with tears, but no deed. The devil makes us think and feel that we have done what was needed to do but there are no fruits. It is like a Band-Aid that falls off sooner or later. Then our heart manifests that we have not changed our minds or direction. We were just being emotional, and we just hate that feeling of being away from God and hate the consequences that it has brought, but there is no change.

“Father, help us to keep our commitments to You and to your people. Let our yea be yea and our nay be nay. Help us to be a people of commitment. Help us to be transformed into your image. The goodness of God leads me to repent, to repent for showing just words and no deeds. Thank you, Father. Nothing can be done without your blood and without you. When we make our pledge to you and to the Body, help us to keep it. You never broke your covenant with me. Father, all I want is relationship with you! May this be in my core: to be a person of words and deeds! The prodigal son came to his senses. That means he repented. He went back to the father's house, he changed his direction as well as feeling horrible about the situation his choices brought him to, but he turned back to God and headed back to the place where he left: that place of righteousness, peace, security, and the abundant life that God had for him. His words showed its deeds! Father, we come back to the place of loving you and people in word and in Truth, in words and in deeds! Amen."

WORD AND DEED

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