Evidence of our Faith

James 1:21–27 CEB

21 Therefore, with humility, set aside all moral filth and the growth of wickedness, and welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you. 22 You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. 23 Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. 24 They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. 25 But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do. 26 If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless. 27 True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us.

Evidence of our Faith

It is what you do rather than what you say that is the most important aspect of living out our Faith in Christ.

There was a question that floated around the church back in the 1970’s that asked “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

That is a question that prompts us to start saying the things that we believe and the things that we do.

I’m a Christian

I believe Jesus is God

I go to church a couple of times a year

I put my spare change in the offering plate

I gave a dollar to that guy who was holding up a sign saying they were looking for work

One time I helped clean up around the church

Those things along with a hundred others that we could add to that list are not evidence of being a Christian.

I have said many times and in many different ways that we do not go through this life with a checklist of things we do and don’t do and hope to make it to heaven we will be horribly mistaken.

John Barry wrote “If religion is about practicing one thing, our religion should be about being like Christ.” [1]

That is our calling isn’t it? Do you believe that we are called to be like Christ?

We don’t make ourselves like Christ. God, the Holy Spirit continues that work that was begun when we were saved. He sanctifies us, he cleanses us from all sin. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes us Holy just as God is Holy.

Paul Cedar wrote:

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 34: James / 1 & 2 Peter / Jude How to Communicate

As we become more and more possessed by the Holy Spirit, we will increasingly enjoy not the overflow of filth, but rather the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

Sanctification is a crisis experience where we realize how much we still try to do life on our terms. It is that moment that we yield to the Holy Spirit’s control and give Him free reign to transform us. It is also a process that we grow in our faith.

It is that growing in our faith that many people struggle with. In the Covenant of Christian Conduct that I have been referencing the past several weeks it states:

The Church of the Nazarene believes this new and holy way of life involves practices to be avoided and redemptive acts of love to be accomplished for the souls, minds, and bodies of our neighbors. [2]

I highlighted two phrases there. The first is practices to be avoided because either they are sinful or they cause harm to our relationship with others. The second is redemptive acts of love to be accomplished for the souls, minds, and bodies of our neighbors.

So when I talk about do’s and don’ts it is not as in a checklist. The do’s and don’ts are meant to keep sin away from our lives and also to reach our neighbors with the message of Christ.

What would happen if we began to live that out daily?

I may come back to that question, but I will leave it to you to ponder.

In that related section in the Manual there is a statement which I have rephrased to emphasize what it is saying:

Identifying with the visible Church is a beautiful privilege and holy obligation for those who have been forgiven of their sins and desire fullness in Christ Jesus.

All who wish to join the Church of the Nazarene and thereby walk in fellowship with us must demonstrate their deliverance from sin via a godly walk and lively piety, and must be, or fervently desire to be, cleansed from all indwelling sin. [3]

So the question that might be raised in your mind is that is all well and good, but how do I do that?

That is what James is addressing in his letter. Look at verse 21 in our text

James 1:21 CEB

21 Therefore, with humility, set aside all moral filth and the growth of wickedness, and welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you.

So what exactly is moral filth. The word moral is sort of easy to understand. When we say more we are thinking about knowing right from wrong.

The word filth implies something that is dirty or unclean.

When we put the two words together one author wrote that Moral Filth “It is something that is ok in the world’s eyes but unclean in God’s eyes.” [4]

It is not hard to look around our world today and mind moral filth. Sexual sins that never would have seen the light of day are celebrated and even called blessed.

A distinguished Methodist minister preached on sin, and one of his church officers afterwards came into his study to see him. He said to the minister, ‘Mr. Howard, we don’t want you to talk as plainly as you do about sin, because if our boys and girls hear you talking so much about sin they will more easily become sinners…do not speak so plainly about sin’.”

“Then my friend took down a small bottle and showed it to the visitor. It was a bottle of strychnine and was marked ‘poison’. The minister said, ‘I see what you want me to do. You want me to change the label. Suppose I take off this label of poison and put on some mild label, such as the essence of peppermint.”

“Did you see what happened? The milder you make the label, the stronger you make the poison. [unknown]

James says to set aside all moral filth. So if we do set it aside, what do we put in it’s place?

James says in the later part of verse 21

James 1:21 (CEB)

welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you.

The word that is planted is the Word of God.

James says that we are to welcome the word planted deep inside. That word may have been planted in someones life years ago. The Holy Spirit does not just let it go. He is at work through that thing we call prevenient grace which is at work in the unsaved person’s life. The word was planted and given the right conditions it will take root and begin to grow.

For the seed to grow, the conditions must be set. In the spring, the soil is tilled, the seed is buried in the dirt, the weeds are kept away. The soil is watered and the sun warms the soil so that the seed germinates and begins to grow.

The weeds of moral filth and evil have to be cleared out of our lives so that the word of God can take root and grow otherwise it will be chocked out.

James says that this is “the very word that is able to save you.” Notice what he said that the word “is able to save you.” You have to respond. You have to seek repentance and forgiveness. You have to clear out that moral filth.

The Passion Translation has this for the later portion of verse 21

James 1:21 (TPT)

Instead, with a sensitive spirit we absorb God’s Word, which has been implanted within our nature, for the Word of Life has power to continually deliver us.

The writer to the Hebrews said:

Hebrews 4:12 “12 because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions.”

That is power, as we live and walk in obedience to God then through the Holy Spirit we are continually delivered from sin. It is not a one time action. It is a daily walk with God. It is daily confessing any known sin. It is a daily seeking out God’s will for today.

So what is James’ solution to setting aside moral filth and welcoming the word that was planted deep inside?

The message paraphrases verse 22 this way:

James 1:22 M:BCL

22 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!

It is important that we hear or listen to the word. This comes through reading the Bible, listening to a sermon, reading a book that teaches some aspect of Christian living, or reading a blog post. There are lots and lots of ways to “hear” God’s word today.

There is a huge difference between hearing and listening. We men are often accused of having selective hearing. I know that I have been accused of that a time or two.

I know that Darlene gets aggravated at me when she is talking and she thinks that I’m not listening to her because I’m doing something else. She’ll say “you weren’t listening.” I’ll repeat back to her what she said. I heard her, but I wasn’t really listening.

Listening means you are active in the communication. Every day we hear a lot of stuff. Most of it is just background noise that we don’t pay attention to. Sometimes someone is talking to us and we let it go in one ear and out the other.

Active listening involves work on our part. We need to be focused on what the other person is saying, we need to give good eye contact, we should ask questions if we don’t understand what is being said.

We should be actively listening to what God is saying to us. However, we cannot just listen, we have to do what God says. We have to act on what God says.

James 1:22 “22 You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves.”

What James is saying is that we have to translate what we have been listening to into action.

If hearing does not lead to doing, if study does not result in obedience, if attendance at worship service does not lead to a righteous life—then the Word of God has been mistreated and we are deceiving ourselves about the reality of our relationship to God [5]

We like to say that James is a very practical book on how to live the Christian faith. That is very true. However, he also is warning us about false beliefs. He is saying that if we are hearers only then we mislead ourselves.

Can I meddle for just a moment?

One of the problems facing the church is that many have become mere spectators. They come for the fellowship and visit with friends. They listen to a sermon or a Sunday school lesson. They take in lots and lots of Bible facts but they never ever ever translate all of that knowledge into godly living.

Paul Cedar in his commentary wrote:

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 34: James / 1 & 2 Peter / Jude How to Become a Doer

Their spiritual heads grow fatter and fatter while their spiritual bodies are wasting away from lack of use. They are spiritual freaks who are of little value to themselves, the church, or the world.

So lets make this practical. In the Covenant that I’ve referenced there are 7 things we are “enjoined in the Word of God, which is our rule of both faith and practice.”

That word enjoined means urged, commanded, or instructed.

Are you ready for them?

Loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and one’s neighbor as oneself

The two greatest commandments in the Bible as identified by Jesus.

Pressing upon the attention of the unsaved the claims of the gospel, inviting them to the house of the Lord, and trying to compass their salvation

We are urged to go and make Disciples. That is not going to happen if all we do is sit and hope they come to us. That is not going to happen.

Being courteous to all people

In other words, don’t be a jerk! There is nothing worse and anymore embarrassing than seeing someone who claims to be a Christian acting like a jerk.

Being helpful to those who are also of the faith, in love forbearing one another

Be patient with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Not everyone is at the same place as you spiritually. Help them and in love be patient with them.

Seeking to do good to the bodies and souls of people; feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and ministering to the needy, as opportunity and ability are given

Jesus said Matthew 25:35–36 “35 I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. 36 I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’”

Contributing to the support of the ministry and the church and its work in tithes and offerings

We are challenged to bring in the tithes and offerings to the church. That money is transformed into opportunities for ministry.

Attending faithfully all the ordinances of God, and the means of grace, including the public worship of God, the ministry of the Word, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper; searching the Scriptures and meditating thereon; family and private devotions

As Christians we are meant to do life together. There is no such thing as a solitary Christian. With few exceptions such as someone who is physically unable to attend the ordinances of God, it is a sinful practice to purposefully refuse to join with the family of God in worship and the sacraments.

I have changed what I say when someone tells me that they don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Umm, no, you can’t be a Christian and purposefully refuse to be included in the Body of Christ, His Church.

So how are you doing being a doer of the word?

Is there enough evidence in your life that you are a Christian? Would they be able to convict you? More importantly, does God recognize as His child? Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?

Don’t put it off another day.

[5] Moo, D. (1995). James. In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 1155). Baker Book House.