Responding to God's word...

Introduction

James (half brother of Jesus)

Practical application

Robby Gallaty “Replicate”

“Dave Browning, in Deliberate Simplicity, stated, “We are convinced that the gap holding back most believers is not the gap between what they know and what they don’t know. It’s the gap between what they know and what they’re living. Many Christians are…educated beyond their obedience.” Most Christians do not need to attend another Bible study to grow in their relationship with the Lord. They need to start living what they have already learned.

Mark Twain has been attributed with saying, “Some people are troubled by the things in the Bible they can’t understand. The things that trouble me are the things I can understand.”

James 1:19-25

3 practical things we must do to respond to God’s word.

I. We must receive the word. (v. 19-21)

v. 19

Quick to hear

Slow to speak

slow to anger

Exalting Jesus In James We Receive the Word Humbly (James 1:19–21)

We are not quick to hear and slow to speak but loathe to listen and anxious to argue.

v. 20

anger is rejection…no benefit

v. 21

Cleanse yourself (Purify)

Word implanted

Jeremiah 31:31–33 “31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Ezekiel 36:24–27 “24 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

Do we long to receive God’s word?

Psalm 1:1–2 “1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord...”

II. We must remember the word (v. 23-24)

v. 23-24

Mirror example

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 “4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 8:10–18 “10 “When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. 11 “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12 otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 15 “He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint. 16 “In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. 17 “Otherwise, …”

Psalm 1:2–3 “2 ... And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”

III. We must react to the word. (v. 22, 25)

v. 22

Prove yourself vs. Deceive yourself

“Faith vs works”

Jame 2:15-26.

Matt 7:21-27.

Exalting Jesus In James We Obey the Word Wholeheartedly (James 1:22)

If your spiritual life is built on merely listening to the words of Jesus and not on obeying them, then one day your life will eternally and ultimately end in destruction. And the danger is that you’re going to think you’re OK all the way up until that day. Bishop Brownrig said, “To deceive is bad, to deceive yourselves is worse, to deceive yourselves about your souls is worst of all” (in Spurgeon, “Before Sermon”). I am frighteningly convinced that countless people within the church listen to the Word week by week, and yet it is not planted in their heart, and it is evident because they are not acting on it. Sure, they act on the things that agree with their lifestyle, or they act when it is convenient to obey. But when this Word confronts, challenges, convicts, or tries to change them, they put it aside and forget it, never putting it into action.

v. 25

Exalting Jesus In James We Obey the Word Wholeheartedly (James 1:22)

But if you listen and you don’t do anything, you’ve not really listened. And if you’re willing, but you don’t do anything, you’re not really willing.

Don’t be willing to obey the Word; obey the Word. Don’t be willing to help the poor; help the poor. Don’t be willing to share the gospel; share the gospel. Don’t be willing to live in purity; live in purity. We are to “be doers of the word and not hearers only” (v. 22). This exhortation—do it—can sound burdensome if we’re not careful. However, listen to the language in James 1:25:

Looks intently (stoop to look)

continue in his word…be blessed

Exalting Jesus In James We Obey the Word Wholeheartedly (James 1:22)

For some followers of Christ, there may be an area of outright disobedience or an area of delayed obedience. It’s an area of life where they have been putting off God’s Word. They know what God’s Word says, but they are not putting it into practice. The Word is saying, “Care for the poor,” and yet they’re still not doing it. The Word is saying, “Turn from gossip, turn from pornography, be reconciled to your spouse,” and they are ignoring it because it doesn’t fit with what they want.

Conclusion

Exalting Jesus In James (We Obey the Word Wholeheartedly (James 1:22))

One of the books that has had an impact on me when it comes to the house church in China is called Back to Jerusalem. It is written by three Chinese pastors, and at the end of the book the pastors talk about the difference between believers and disciples, that is, people who just say they believe in Christ and people who are really following Christ. I think that difference is akin to James’s distinction between hearers and doers. These pastors write, “True disciples are usually people that few understand. They are viewed as potentially unstable fanatics. Often the same governments that tolerate the existence of mere believers will stop at no ends to completely eradicate any disciples within their borders” (Yun, Yongze, and Wang, Back to Jerusalem, 115).

The Lord’s Supper 1 Corinthians 11:23-32

Reflection (vv. 24-25)

Proclamation (v. 26)

Examination (vv. 27-32)