The Fellowship of the Doers

 

               What is the greatest danger you think you face today?  Is it death, war, a car accident, failing a class, getting fired, getting bullied, a heart attack, a stroke, sickness, divorce, murder, prison, police, mom, dad, or forgetting something?  What if I said the greatest danger you face today or any day the rest of your life is passivity?  The greatest danger you will ever face is doing nothing when something needs done or saying nothing when something need said! 

               A 1620’s dictionary defined passivity as suffering without resistance.  Some will read this and question, “Aren’t we called to suffer?”  (Philippians 1:29) Others will read this and the words of Isaiah 53:7 will come to mind, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”  The “Christian mantra” championing man’s default position of passivity is defended with verses like this one.  However, that verse is describing a moment in Christ’s earthly life that was anything but passive.  Christ was actively doing what needed to be done so that the world might be saved.  Throughout His earthly life he was anything but passive.  He overturned the money changers in the Temple and threw out the merchants…twice!  In John 7:30, he evades capture in the Temple.    Peter is no different.  In Acts 5 he is arrested and imprisoned.  Upon his miraculous escape, he is found back in the Temple teaching again.  He could have easily disappeared into the woodwork of history and suffered without resistance, but as a man, he understood that something needed to be said, and there was work to be done.   Paul would flee over the wall in a basket to escape capture, only to show up in the next town and start preaching again.  His own friends kept him from returning to the arena to address the crowd for his own protection.   

               Proverbs 18:9 summarizes well the life of a passive man.  The proverb says, “He also that is slothful in his work (passive) is brother to him that is a great waster.”  Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”    We are built for good works!  For you and me, passivity is wasting our lives.  Among Christian men, there is no room for passivity.

               In June of 1917, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “I am a man of action, and the president (Woodrow Wilson) has refused to let me take part in this great contest as a man of action.”  Wilson had refused Roosevelt’s offer to recruit men for the Great War.  When Roosevelt penned those words, he was 58 years old.  He would die in his sleep 18 months later.  To the end, he was that man of action.  His simple description of his life was accurate.  He had been Governor of New York, Vice President and President of the United States, explored the Amazon River, ranched in the Dakotas, spent time in Africa on Safari, attended Harvard, and was an active reader attempting to read one book each day.  This is just a small part of his active life and does not even account for his time in the military and his many exploits there.  While we may disagree with his political views, we cannot deny that he was a man of action.

               Being a man of action began at a pivotal point in his life.  He realized he needed to make a change because of an experience he endured.  A decision that would forever change the course of his life.  He would write in his journal that he was joining, “the fellowship of the doers”.  His own bad experience at 13 forced him to realize that his own passivity was contributing to his problem. 

               Regardless of your age, in the time you have left on this earth, choose action and reject passivity fully.  Passivity is the very antithesis of action.  Passivity in the life of a man of God is missing the mark.  It…is…sin!  There…I said it!  Passivity is sin!  Dietric Bonhoeffer is credited with the following quote.

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.  God will not hold us guiltless.  Not to speak is to speak.  Not to act is to act.

               I Timothy 6:12 tells us to fight the good fight of faith.  The Greek word for fight is the word from which we get agonize.  When was the last time you were so engaged in the spiritual life as a man of God that it was agonizing?  When was the last time it was agonizing and you realized that was exactly what God had called you to?  That verse continues by commanding us to lay hold on eternal life.  Abandon passivity and grip tightly this life we have in Christ.  Not because we might lose our eternal life, but because it has gripped us!

               Let us be a fellowship of the doers!