DON'T JUST STAND THERE! DO SOMETHING!

Introduction

-{James 1}

-We’re at a weird Sunday where it seems too early for Christmas (even though we’ve decorated already), but we just got past Thanksgiving. So, I want to talk today about something I am thankful for, but it does have Christmas implications. While Christmas celebrates the Word of God made flesh, He has inspired and revealed Himself through His Holy Word, the Bible, to tell of His person and His great works—to declare He is born and He has died and risen. I am thankful for God’s Word, the Bible, because through it I came to know the Word of God, Jesus, and was gloriously saved.

-The Word of God points to the Word who is God, and so it is not like any other book. Adrian Rogers used to say that the Bible isn’t the Book of the Month, it is the Book of the Ages. You can’t read the Bible like any other book. It isn’t a novel with a fanciful story. It’s not an emotional self-help book. It’s not even an ethics book. It is a book that is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word of God in the Bible is God’s direct revelation to us personally, and is meant to change us and shape us, but we actually need to accept what it says and then does something with it—apply it. When you hear or read the Word of God, you don’t just hear it or read it, you live it.

It made me think of my birthday a few months back, I got a Weber grill. But the grill came in a million pieces. There were instructions in there on how to put it together. It wouldn’t have done me any good to read the instructions and then walk away expecting the grill to put itself together. I had to read the instructions, and then put the instructions into action.

-We can’t just read the Word of God and think, OH, THAT’S NICE, and then just walk away. Every time we open God’s Word it moves us to do something with what it is that we read. So, I want us to consider today that when we read God’s Word, we don’t just stand there, we actually do something about it.

James 1:22–27 NET 2nd ed.

22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

-{pray}

-Today, I just want to look at several points that James makes about doing something with the living Word. First, let’s consider...

1) The call for action (v. 22a)

-James says at the beginning of v. 22 to live out the message / BE DOERS OF THE WORD. If someone calls themselves a disciple, they put the teachings of the teacher into action in their life. If you merely listen, you are a listener, not a disciple.

-My fear for so many in the modern church is that they come to church to get their religious “FIX”, but then leave to just go live their lives however they see fit. Now, I want to make clear that salvation is by grace alone in Christ alone. We are not saved by perfectly keeping the Word of God because we do not have the ability to keep it perfectly.

-However, being saved in Christ means you are born again and empowered by the Holy Spirit who gives you both the will and the power to live out as Christ commands. And so, as you see the truths, you apply them. And we find three words describing this call to action in obeying Christ through the Holy Spirit. First, this obedience is...

a) Immediate

-When you see a truth in the Word of God, understanding it within its context, you work it into your life immediately. When the Holy Spirit reveals to you the meaning of a truth in the Word of God, it’s not something that you hesitate in doing. It’s not like you have this truth, and then you put it on the shelf to deal with it later.

-Think about, if you were told by a doctor that you had this deadly disease, and the only way to save your life would be to take this particular medicine. You wouldn’t take the medicine, put it in your bathroom closet, and forget about it. That medicine is your life. You’d start taking it immediately.

-We have the words of life that points us to the giver of life, and we’re just going to read it and then forget about what we read? Our response to the Word is immediate.

-If you ask our kids the definition of obedience they were given when they were little, they’d tell because they heard it a million times—it was: Do what we say, when we say it, with the right heart attitude. Why should our obedience to Christ be any different? But this call to action isn’t just immediate, it is also...

b) Continuous

-In the original language, that command to be doers of the word / living out the message is given in a form that means it is something that you continuously do. It is a lifestyle marked by constantly living out the Word of God. You can’t obey God once in one particular area and think: OK, I’VE DONE MY OBEDIENCE FOR TODAY. NOW I CAN JUST GO DO WHATEVER I WANT. That’s not how it works.

-Granted, being a disciple of Christ is a process. As you grow and you learn more of the Word, you find more areas of your life that you need to bring under submission to Christ—you find more words to put into action. But, that’s the call to action—I am making God’s Word the continuous norm of the way I think and the attitudes I have and the way I live.

-No doubt, there are things that are hard to put into action, and we seek God in prayer to make them a reality in our lives. LOVE YOUR ENEMIES? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? But, Christ calls us to a different life than the world, and so we take His Word and continuously put it into action. So, the call to action is immediate and continuous, but it is also...

c) Encompassing

-Living out the message means that every teaching within its context is meant for us to follow. I stress context because there are obviously parts of the Bible that are specific to the nation of Israel that we don’t do—like the sacrificial system and the like. But when you read the New Testament, it gives the Old Testament its context for us. And so, it is encompassing in that whatever is meant for Christians is meant for all Christians. It is not that there are not some things that are meant for you but not for me.

-We talk about the Bible buffet line, where people think that they can go through the Bible and kind of pick and choose what they will or will not actually follow. Think about somebody saying: Yeah, I know that I won’t murder and I won’t steal, but I refuse to give up envying, pride, and gossiping. That’s kind of silly. You can’t say Yes to Jesus in one area, and then no in another.

James 2:10 NET 2nd ed.

10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

-Again, we would tell our kids it’s not obedience if you only partially obey. If I told my kids when they were younger: you need to do THIS and do THAT. But they went and did THIS but they didn’t do THAT, that’s not obedience. So, the call to action is immediate, continuous, and encompassing. Next, James wants us to consider...

2) The delusion of inaction (vv. 22b-24)

-James tells us at the end of v. 22 that if you merely listen and not live out the word, you are deceiving yourself. He then goes on to describe it with the picture of someone seeing themselves in the mirror, walking away and forgetting what he saw.

-What James is saying is that someone who just hears the Word of God and does not live the Word of God, they’re deceiving themselves—they have faulty logic and reasoning. Just because you listen to God’s Word doesn’t make you Christian, but when you obey it. First, there is the call to put all your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be saved. True salvation is received as a gift by grace through faith, but that faith is not alone, it leads to fruit. We have to be aware of the warning that Christ gives:

Matthew 7:21–27 NET 2nd ed.

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ 24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation had been laid on rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed—it was utterly destroyed!”

-Anyone who comes to Harvest, I don’t want that to be them…YOU. I don’t want you to be the person on judgment day that says to the Lord: Lord, didn’t I go to church every once in a while. Didn’t I read a devotional every once in a while. Didn’t I walk an aisle and get baptized. But then Jesus comes and says I NEVER KNEW YOU. Why? Because you may have seen or heard the Word, but you didn’t really respond to the Word. Don’t be deluded.

-James says this type of person is like a man who looks in the mirror, walks away, and completely forgets what he saw. He saw that his hair wasn’t done, he had stuff in his teeth, he was only half-shaven. He walks away and forgets everything he saw. The Word of God is a mirror. It shows us what is really going on. It doesn’t sugar coat anything. It tells you what must be done. But if you walk away from it without living it, what good is it? You’re deluded. And I see Scripture tell us about three ways people like this are deluded...

a) Misunderstanding

-And what I mean by that is that the average, cultural Christian has a a fundamental flaw in their understanding of salvation and the meaning of faith. Again, I stress that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone according to the Scripture alone. And yet, that same Scripture says that it then overflows into obedience.

-We hold to the truth of:

Ephesians 2:8–9 NET 2nd ed.

8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.

-But that is immediately followed by:

Ephesians 2:10 NET 2nd ed.

10 For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.

-Beware of the misunderstanding that true faith moves us to action. Then, another delusion...

b) Irrelevance

-There are those who might wrongly think that certain situations in life make them exempt from the teachings of Scripture, or merely that there are teachings in Scripture that don’t apply to them—they’re irrelevant.

-So, for example, the Bible says to forgive others. But then you say, you don’t what they did to me. Because of my situation, I am the exception to the rule. Again, that’s not how it works. Jesus didn’t give exceptions to His Word. Jesus’ Word is relevant to all people at all times. Then there is the delusion of...

c) Laziness

-People make excuses about why they won’t live out God’s Word. People say, “I can’t change,” or “God made me this way,” or “it’s just who I am,” or “it’s just the way I do things.” I’m wondering, if you were face to face with Christ and He spoke His Word directly to you (face to face) would you give Him those excuses? Well, Christ is speaking directly to you through His Word.

-What this demonstrates is being too lazy to look at the meaning of Scripture or too lazy to practice Scripture or too stubborn (or hard-headed) to obey. So, we ought not deceive ourselves with these delusions that somehow make us think we are given a pass of some sort of following the Word. But, now, James continues and gives us...

3) The portrait of real action (v. 25)

-v. 25 paints a picture of how we can put God’s Word into action and be blessed by it. He says:

James 1:25 NET 2nd ed.

25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does.

-What is the portrait that he gives. First, he tells us to...

a) Study

-He talks about peering into the perfect law of liberty—other translations might say LOOK. That word literally means to bend down to carefully inspect something. In context, it means to gaze intently into Scripture with a desire to learn and an intention of allowing it to change your life.

-This means we don’t approach the Bible because it’s the expected thing to do or because it is our habit, but we come to Scripture with the intention of learning something from God that is going to apply to our life. It’s good to read the Bible, and be exposed to the Bible, but mere 5 minute devotions are not enough time to study and find the gold that is there. Now, it’s true that there are parts of the Bible that are hard to understand. But we don’t just gloss over them, we study them—we look intently into them.

-Years ago there was the fad of the Magic Eye pictures that look like a portrait that had a repeating pattern to it. But if you stared at it and focused in on it, there was this 3-D image that popped out at you. But the only way to see the image was to focus and look intently.

-This is the same with Scripture. We don’t just read it like we read a blog or news article, we gaze intently at it to find truths for our lives. But, not only do we study, we also...

b) Abide

-v. 25 says to peer into the law of liberty and fix his attention there—other versions will say perseveres, abides, continues. What it means is to remain in one spot. It tells us to live in the Word and let the Word live in us. We don’t only read the Word of God once or twice a week or month and expect it to just zap us with knowledge for living. We are constantly in the Word—our study of the Word is a lifestyle. One author described that it:

Has in view an abiding in the Law which is ready to receive and to obey it, as contrasted with the superficial man, who goes away from the mirror of God’s Word without amendment. Only this willing abiding in the Law, which is prepared to be effectively transformed by it, can lead to salvation.

-Jesus Himself called us to this abiding:

John 8:31–32 NET 2nd ed.

31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 15:7 NET 2nd ed.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.

-So we study, abide, and James says:

c) Remember

-James says in v. 25 that the person does not become a forgetful listener. This means we have to meditate on the Word and memorize the Word and think about what we have read or heard throughout the day. As one author suggested:

We should be careful not to give all our time just to reading the Word, to see how much we can cover, but, after reading a portion, we should carefully, prayerfully turn it over in our minds, and appropriate it in our hearts.

-It does us no good to read a devotion and then completely forget what it says. That’s not going to show through your life. So, one teacher suggested this three step method of meditating on God’s Word:

(1) Memorize – It is easier to meditate on Scripture that has been committed to memory. It allows the mind to mull over passages while walking, driving, showering, or falling asleep; (2) Visualize – See the passage. Let it come alive. Visualize the green pastures, the still waters, and the resting sheep of the 23rd Psalm; (3) Personalize – Put yourself in the picture, pondering the application of the passage to your own life

-I don’t know about you, but I forget a lot of things about a lot of things, and that includes God’s Word. So, I need to do what I can to remember it, so then I can follow the last part of the portrait which is to:

d) Do

-James says in v. 25 not to become a forgetful listener, but one who lives it out—one who is a doer of the Word. You study the Word, you abide in the Word, you remember the Word, and then you actually do the Word. And James says that when you do that, you will be blessed in whatever you do.

-David gave us this same, sage advice in Psalm 1 where he said:

Psalm 1:1–3 NET 2nd ed.

1 How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers. 2 Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by flowing streams; it yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds in everything he attempts.

-That is the kind of fruitful life that believers ought to desire.

Conclusion

-So, let me conclude with three specific examples of how living the Word might look according to James in vv. 26-27. First, you will have self-control—you’re able to control your tongue, your attitude, your thoughts, and your actions. Next, there is self-sacrifice—you give of yourself to the ministry to those who are in need, whether they are the vulnerable such as widows or orphans, or anyone God gives before you in a divine appointment. And then there is self-denial—you keep yourself unstained from the world, not living for worldly pleasures, but for Christ.

-Christian, are you just standing there or are you doing something? Maybe you have been a listener and not a doer, so maybe you want to come to the altar and ask God to show you where you have not obeyed His Word. Or maybe you know someone who is a listener and not a doer and you want to pray for them.

-Or maybe, after reflection, you realize you never have truly trusted Christ—your supposed faith is cultural or familial, but you’ve never given your life to Christ...