What You Do Speaks Louder Than What You Say

I read a sermon by a preacher one time with this title; “Is what you have on display in stock?”  That is a good question for us to consider this week. You see there are many “Christians” who TALK about serving the Lord and living for Him but when you take a close examination of their lives it doesn’t back up their words.  So the conclusion would be that what they have on display is not in stock!

Now I am not trying to say that you are not saved, what I am saying is that if your life is like what I just described then there definitely is a spiritual problem. Now let’s consider some scripture:

Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

These words that Matthew records for us are words of grief. He is grieving over the condition of these 3 groups of people.  Now you might say well that just doesn’t apply to me, but wait just a minute. If you are a Christian who’s life fits the description from above then what would you call that? I would say that this is a clear case of being a Hypocrite.  So He is talking to us if we fit the description!

Let’s see what He says. He starts by giving a description of their outward appearance. These sepulchers were painted with a bright white type of paint that made them look beautiful and stand out.  But he says inside were dead men’s bones!  We can say anything we want but the truth is that if there is no life on the inside then it doesn’t matter what the outside looks like.

And let me go one step further and say that if the inside is alive and well then the outside will reflect that! Remember what the Lord said to Samuel when he was going through looking at David’s brothers as a replacement for King Saul:

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

It’s easy to fool man by the way we look but that doesn’t fool the Lord! Listen to how Peter puts it:

1 Peter 3:3-4 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; [4] But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

There is nothing wrong with making this body look good, but if we are trying to hide our Spirituality by what we do to this body then it is wrong because the Lord knows the truth!

So let me conclude by asking what you have in stock?

Until next week,

Roger Penny

Philippians 1:6He