Do and Observe:
Truth to be Understood must be Lived
Delivered October 15, 2023 First Church of East Hartland
Introduction
Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you and open the word of God together.
When I first became a follower of Jesus – I came without much of a religious background. I hadn’t read the Bible. We didn’t go regularly to church – And so my transition to becoming a Jesus follower was gigantic. I knew so little about the Bible that I thought that last book of the Old Testament was written by an Italian named Malachi. But on the positive side, I read the Bible with untainted eyes. I didn’t have any preconceived ideas of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. When the gospels described Jesus sending out his disciples to preach the gospel, heal the sick and deliver folks from evil, I thought that this is what we were supposed to do. I was somewhat like John Wimber in this. After John became a follower of Jesus, he asked those who were mentoring him: “When do we get to do the stuff?” When asked what he meant he said: “You know. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Deliver from evil.” John went on to be the founding pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
Have you ever read the New Testament and thought – this doesn’t sound much like the way things are done now. Remember when Jesus sent out the 12? It’s recorded in all three of the first biographies of Jesus – Matthew Mark and Luke. Here is Matthew’s account what Jesus told them as He sent them out:
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay
And then later Jesus sends out 72 – with basically the same instructions. Clearly, He is setting a pattern for what New Testament disciples are supposed to be doing. What is going on? Is this normative or was this just a special time. If it is supposed to be normative, then how are we supposed to go about this in this place, in this culture and in this time?
The very brief scripture that we read for today might give us some hints on how to get started. So let’s dig right in.
The Scripture
Towards the end of Jesus’ life, he warned both his disciples – those who had decided to follow Him and those who were interested in Him – he warned them about the other teachers of the Law.
3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. (Matthew 23:3)
Now there is a lot we could unpack from this little excerpt, but I want us to just the look at the phrase “Do and Observe.” First let me note that in English we use “observe” in two ways: I love to observe the stars – where observing means studying / looking closely at AND the other way: I try to observe the traffic signs – or comply with the law. Surprisingly, the word used in the original text is a lot closer to studying or look at closely than it is to comply with.
With that in mind, I am struck by the ordering of Jesus’ statements here. Normally we would think that we are to first carefully observe (listen to / study)[i] what our teachers taught and then do what they have taught. Even a number of translations reverse the Greek order and record Jesus as saying “observe and then do.” That’s because it is clearly normative. How can we do what we have not been taught? The normal way we learn is by listening and observing and then going out and doing it. So, is this just the way Jesus turned the phrase or is He trying to teach us something by reversing the typical order?
Inspiration of the Bible
Before I address that question, let me side-bar a minute and address the question: Does the order really matter? I say: absolutely. Historically, both Jews and Christians have believed that every word of the Bible is ordered by God. We even find Jesus and the apostle Paul making theological points using fine points of grammar from the text they were teaching on.[ii] Also, Jesus taught that every jot and tittle – the smallest marks used in the Hebrew Bible were important. In theology, this understanding is called verbal plenary inspiration. So yes. We find ourselves on solid historical footing when we take every word – including the grammar, the ordering, the jots and tittle as inspired by God.
What does the order teach us?
Then what is Jesus trying to teach His followers and us by telling us to do and then observe the teachings of the Bible? Here is what I think is going on. I think Jesus is trying to teach us how to learn truth. Truth about God. Truth about who we are. Truth about life. That’s what’s in the Bible – showing who God is and who we are. The way we learn certain skills and the way we learn to walk with God are different. You certainly wouldn’t want your surgeon to start doing surgery and then go and study how to do it! Anybody want their surgeon to learn that way? No, in those kind of skills we need to observe and then do.
How We Learn Truth
Jesus is telling us that in matters of spiritual truth – the kind of stuff that the scribes and Pharisees were teaching – we need to step out and live them and then study and reflect on them. I love the way singer / songwriter Charlie Peacock states this in one of his songs:
truth, to be understood, must be lived[iii]
Let me illustrate this with a simple example. One of the simple truths found in many places in the scripture is that God will provide for us. We hear it in the 23rd Psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. OR I have everything I need.
We hear it in one of the names of God: Jehovah Jireh. How do we learn that truth? We cannot learn it when our bank account is always full. We learn it when our wallet is empty. Jesus taught this truth to His disciples when He sent them out and said – “Don’t take any money with you.” They learned that God will provide by doing. Truth, to be really understood, must be lived.
Let me give you another example: Someone asked Dallas Willard one day: “How do I find God?” He answered: “Go to where He lives: “the-end-of-your-rope.com”
We don’t find God or His truths by study and observing. We find him through living. Truth to be really understood, must be lived.
Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian said it this way:
“Life can only be understood by looking backward; but it must be lived looking forward”
In other words, if you want understanding, you have to start by doing.
I think this is the heart of what Jesus was trying to convey to His followers. The scribes and Pharisees have taken the law and tried to understand it without living it. “For they preach but do not practice it.”
And I think that is true for us as well. We read the Bible. We listen to sermons. And we try to understand it. Jesus is saying: Start doing it and then you will understand it.
We hear something similar from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. He heard God tell him something very interesting that he was supposed to tell God’s people:
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.”
You would expect God to say: You are my witnesses and my servants so that the world would know and believe. No. You are my witnesses so that you may know and believe and understand. As you tell others of what I have done and serve Me and my people, you will know and understand. Truth to be understood must be lived.
How can we apply this?
How is God calling First Church to apply this today? Pastor Marilyn has been preaching a series on From the Ordinary to the Miraculous. In the first week of that series she told us:
We ought to be about doing the ordinary things so that God can do the miraculous with us, in us, and through us.
In the various times Barbara and I have spent with you over the past few years, I find that you are a church that is hungry to learn more about the ways of God. To learn the truths taught in the scriptures. And how do you learn these truths?
Truth to be understood must be lived
I want to learn how to pray
Start doing by talking to God. Join the Dwelling Place on Fridays
I want to learn how to be an instrument of healing
Start doing by praying for people to be healed
I want to learn how to spread the good news about Jesus to my neighbor
Start doing by hearing their story and then telling them your story
I want to learn to be like Jesus
Start by doing what He did – loving people, proclaiming the Kingdom of God, praying for healing
I don’t want to oversimplify this. Remember, Jesus said, do and observe. After we have started doing, we need to take time to reflect on what we have done? We need to observe and learn. Where did we see God at work. What worked? What didn’t work? Do that together.
What truths are you hungry to understand? How can I start living that truth today?
Jesus sent out the 12 to start doing the work of the kingdom long before they understood much. Remember how clueless the disciples were? Yet Jesus sent them out twice – to do – so that they would understand. Put yourself in their place? They were probably saying: I have never prayed for someone to be healed. I have never cast out a demon. I haven’t even told others about the good news about the kingdom. I am not even sure what the kingdom of God is. Sometimes we don’t start doing because we feel ill-equipped.
Sometimes we don’t start doing the work God has given us because we are afraid that we will get it wrong. Guess what! You’re right. We will mess up. But it is even in getting it wrong, that we will begin to understand truth at a deeper level.
Church of Hartland – you are a hungry people. Hungry for God. You want to know and believe and understand more. Go and be His witnesses. Go and be His servants. Go and be His instruments of peace. Then you will grow in your knowledge and understanding of who He is.
Truth to be understood must be lived.
[i] In English we can observe the stars and observe traffic laws. These are two very different uses of the word observe. What sense is the underlying Greek conveying when Jesus says: “observe”? The word in the Greek τηρέω is most often translated observe in the various word-for-word translations that I trust. It seems to imply a careful guarding or watching closely or keeping carefully of something. This is different from the way we use “keep the rules” or “observe the traffic laws.” It is more like the doctors and nurses keep you for observation.
[ii] When debating with the Sadducees about the resurrection, Jesus used grammar to make His point: 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 22:31-32 Not “I was the God of Abraham…” In the sermon on the mount from Matthew 5, Jesus said even the smallest parts of the scripture were important: 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Paul, when making a point about who are the recipients of the promises to Abraham, he said: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” (Galatians 3:26) Plural or singular is important.
[iii] From the song “Experience” from the album “The Secret of Time” by Charlie Peacock