Overview
The Word is a heart endeavor because it is a deliberate endeavor of the heart and not exclusively an academic or scholarly activity, and the labor we put into it has more to do with motive and humility than what people might think. Rev. Rico Magnelli walks through Acts 4:13, Luke 23:43, 2 Timothy 2:6-7 and James 1:19-22 to show that the word needs both precision, which keeps the error out, and heart, which keeps the love in. Peter and John were called unlearned and ignorant men, yet they had humble and resolute hearts. The hardworking farmer partakes of the fruit first, only God gives the understanding, and that understanding comes together in the doing of the word.
Transcript
The Word Is a Deliberate Endeavor of the Heart
Let’s turn to Acts chapter 4, please. Acts chapter 4. We want to consider the Word as a heart endeavor, and what I mean by that is that the Word is a deliberate endeavor of the heart and not exclusively an academic or scholarly activity. The labor we put into that Word is more of the heart than anything else, and it has more to do with motive and humility than what people might think.
Unlearned and Ignorant Men: Peter and John in Acts 4:13
Some great skills are simply listening, considering without distraction, considering, and then certainly acting on that Word. In Acts chapter 4, at the beginning of the Christian church, the apostles certainly got the attention of the religious leaders, and this is the documented testimony of the religious leaders regarding them. In Acts chapter 4, verse 13, it says, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, not the timidity, the boldness, they saw it, it was palpable, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men.
They marveled, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. They were unlearned and ignorant men, according to these individuals, or one rendering could be illiterate and uneducated. Wow. So by the mouth of their own critics, they didn’t meet up with the standards. They were not even capable of having an advanced spiritual education, yet these are the men that Jesus Christ chose to take on the responsibility in the fledgling church. What they did have was humble hearts and resolute hearts to seek God out in his will, and certainly that was a process for them.
Precision Keeps the Error Out and Heart Keeps the Love In: Luke 23:43
Look at Luke 23, please. Luke 23. It was a process for them of replacing worldly and old thoughts and practices with the godly ones that Jesus Christ had taught them, and this is part of what we do as a heart endeavor with the word.
We labor with our heart. We engage in that word, and that’s more of the emphasis that brings the best results, and Luke 23 is a great verse because in one verse we see the heart and the precision of the word. You need both.
You need the precision of the word to keep out error, but you also need the heart of the word to keep love in it, and here on the cross, Jesus Christ says to one of the individuals that was crucified with him, and in verse 43 of Luke 23, he says, and Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. Now we know that the comma can be taken out because it wasn’t part of God’s word as originally given, and we know this cannot mean that today this individual would be with Jesus in paradise because Jesus was buried three days and three nights. He was in the grave three days and three nights, so this cannot be true, plus paradise is referring to a place on earth, and Jesus for the next three days and three nights was going to be in the grave, so that’s the precision of the word.
It keeps the error out when we understand these things, but we can’t miss the heart of it. Here he is on the cross and still has the love and care to think about somebody else that’s suffering near him, and he says, Verily, I say to thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. I say it to you right now.
In the future, you’ll be with me in paradise. We need precision, and we need the heart of the word. We can’t do without either.
Scholarly Tools Are Only Tools: Getting the Word Into the Heart
Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2, please. The word and developing the word in our lives is really not an academic pursuit. It’s really a heart pursuit.
All the tools that we utilize, some would call them scholarly tools, academic tools, they can be very helpful. They can. They’re just tools, though, but what we really want is we want the word to get into our heart.
The Husbandman That Laboreth Must Be First Partaker of the Fruits
That’s what we really want, and here in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 6, the apostle Paul tells Timothy, the husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits. The husbandman is referring to like a farmer, that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits, and I like the English Standard Version here, the ESV. It says, it is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
See, when we put our heart into the word, we should be the first ones benefiting from it. God doesn’t use you or me in order to help somebody else, and then it’s to your detriment. That cannot be God.
It has to be to our benefit. It has to be to our advantage, because he never uses anybody, and we should be the first ones that partake of that fruit of the labor of the word that we put into it, into our hearts. Absolutely. No question about it. When a farmer sows the seed, he’s putting in labor. When he waters it, he cultivates it, the ground and so forth.
He’s putting in the labor. We’re doing the same thing with our heart. The word belongs in our heart, but it takes work to put it in there, and so much of the work we’ll find out is not what we think. It’s more about getting rid of stuff. Make room for that word, really, is what it is. That’s where so much of the work is.
Consider What I Say: Only God Gives the Understanding
Then it says in verse 7, Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. He commands him here. Consider is a command, and it’s a singular command to one person, Timothy.
He’s commanding him to keep sowing the word in his heart, to keep on considering that word. You plant it, keep considering, keep thinking about it, and what’ll happen is the Lord will give the understanding. Only God opens the eyes of people’s understanding, not men.
We can teach, we can encourage, we can support people, but only God can open the eyes of someone’s understanding. What is it that you want to understand? What is it that you want to understand? Ask God about it. Go to his word, and keep considering it, and the Lord will give the understanding.
Understanding Means Two Rivers Flowing Together Into One
That’s what the word says, and the word understanding means like a bringing together, like a union, and it’s used in profane Greek literature to describe two rivers flowing together into one. God wants things to come together in our heart, but it takes us to consider it, and to do that type of considering means we have to remove other things that are occupying our thought time. It’s not that we think about the word 24-7, but there has to be time where we think, we consider that word deeply, deeply.
So Much of the Word Comes Together in the Doing of It
Look at James, please, James. You know, so much of the coming together of the word is discovered in the doing of the word. Oftentimes we think about it, we gel it, but it really doesn’t come together.
It doesn’t flow until we act on it, until we literally walk out on the word. That’s right. So much of it is in that category.
Swift to Hear, Slow to Speak, Slow to Wrath in James 1:19
Here in James chapter 1, in verse 19, it says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. We are to be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. How does that benefit us? Well, we develop ourselves and our heart to listen to God.
But what helps us is our heart to listen to other people. How can we listen to God if we don’t listen to people? Listening is and can become a lost art, but it’s such a great tool to listen. And when we listen, we don’t add things.
We listen to what the word says. We listen to what people say with the word. We listen to them. And we don’t necessarily add our preconceived ideas. It doesn’t go through those type of filters. That’s important.
Listening Is a Lost Art Worth Recovering
It says that we are to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. And those all tie in together. When we are swift to hear, we restrain ourselves and listen attentively.
And we are slow to speak. And that means that we don’t answer everything right away, knee-jerk, and throw out whatever comes out in our mind. We’re slow to speak, and that helps us to become slower in wrath.
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Absolutely. We can’t be angry all the time.
But one thing, the world, if you keep listening to the world, it starts to make you angry. And we have to cut that off. And it’s right in the next verse.
Lay Apart All Filthiness and Superfluity of Naughtiness
Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. Filthiness means that which is dirty, and it does tie into moral defilement. There’s a moral element to this.
And superfluity just means more than enough. Naughtiness is evil. See, you put off that which is dirty, impure, morally improper, and you recognize the superfluity, the more than enough evil, and you put it off.
We get rid of that stuff. How much is enough for you? I don’t know. See, that’s where you have to be first partaker of the fruit.
Recognize Your Own Fruit and Keep the Distractions to a Minimum
You have to recognize your own fruit. Is this information or this activity causing me not to have joy? It’s taking the joy out of me. Well, something’s not right.
We have to keep the distractions down to a minimum or remove them to allow that word to get into our hearts. If we really want to consider the word like Paul told Timothy, it’s going to require us with focus of heart when we read it, when we listen to it, when we study it, whatever, when people share it with us, when we hear God working in people as they speak, same type of thing. And then what happens is, is that the word actually becomes part of our being.
It actually grows with us. That word lives within us. It becomes part of us.
Be a Doer of the Word, Not a Hearer Only
And then what puts it all together is verse 22. But be you a doer of the word, not a hearer only deceiving your own self. What happens is, is that we may hear it, we may consider it, but we never do it.
We think about it, we consider it, but we never do it. We never take the action on it. And therefore, what happens is the understanding that God wants to provide for us is limited.
The eyes that God wants to flood with light becomes less and less because it requires us to take action. And then we don’t deceive ourselves. So that’s why what I’m saying is the word is a heart endeavor.
Greek, Hebrew and Figures of Speech Serve the Heart
It’s not necessarily an academic pursuit. There’s academics in it. Sure, we study Greek and Hebrew and figures of speech and Orientalisms and all these wonderful things.
They are terrific. But it’s really to get it into our heart, to get God’s original intent, which involves precision and heart, both. The precision keeps the error out and the heart keeps the love in.
And that’s what we want. And one great thing we can do is we can really develop our abilities and heart to listen, to really listen. And we do that with one another.
God Really Wants to Give You and I Understanding
What’ll happen is we’ll develop that heart as we listen to God and consider what he says and take action on it. Because God wants to give you and I understanding. It’s not like he’s dangling it in front of you as some elusive carrot.
He really wants you to understand. He really wants me to understand. And to do that, we’re going to have to consider that word deeply, continually, and be the first partaker of the fruit.
And the way that we’re first partaker of the fruit, baby, is you take action on that word. You take the corn off the stalk and you take a bite out of it or whatever. You take the apple off the tree and you take a bite out of it. And that’s what we want to do with the word, because the word is a heart endeavor.
Key Takeaways
- The Word is a deliberate endeavor of the heart, not exclusively an academic or scholarly activity; the labor has more to do with motive and humility than what people might think.
- The religious leaders in Acts 4:13 perceived Peter and John to be unlearned and ignorant men, yet what they did have was humble hearts and resolute hearts to seek God out in his will.
- Luke 23:43 shows both sides in one verse: the precision that keeps the error out, since Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights, and the heart that keeps the love in, since he was still thinking about somebody suffering near him.
- 2 Timothy 2:6 makes the hardworking farmer the first partaker of the fruits, so when we put our heart into the word we should be the first ones benefiting from it.
- Consider is a command in 2 Timothy 2:7, and the word understanding means a bringing together, used in profane Greek literature of two rivers flowing together into one; only God opens the eyes of someone’s understanding.
- James 1:22 completes it: much of the coming together of the word is discovered in the doing of it, so a hearer only, who never takes the action, limits the understanding God wants to provide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean that the Word is a heart endeavor?
It means the Word is a deliberate endeavor of the heart and not exclusively an academic or scholarly activity, and the labor put into it has more to do with motive and humility than what people might think. Rev. Rico Magnelli points to Peter and John, whom the religious leaders in Acts 4:13 perceived to be unlearned and ignorant men, yet what they did have was humble hearts and resolute hearts to seek God out in his will.
Why does Rico Magnelli say the comma in Luke 23:43 can be taken out?
Because the comma was not part of God’s word as originally given, and the verse cannot mean the man would be with Jesus in paradise that same day: Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights, and paradise refers to a place on earth. Read as, Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise, the precision keeps the error out. The heart is there too, because on the cross Jesus still had the love and care to think about somebody suffering near him.
What does it mean to be first partaker of the fruits in 2 Timothy 2:6?
It means that when we put our heart into the word, we should be the first ones benefiting from it. God doesn’t use you or me in order to help somebody else and then have it be to your detriment; that cannot be God. Rev. Rico Magnelli says the way we become first partaker is to take action on that word, the way you take the corn off the stalk or the apple off the tree and take a bite out of it.
Scripture References
Acts 4; Acts 4:13; Luke 23; Luke 23:43; 2 Timothy 2; 2 Timothy 2:6; 2 Timothy 2:7; James 1; James 1:19; James 1:20; James 1:21; James 1:22
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
