Faith Obeys (Kick Off for VBS)

James 1:19–25 (ESV)

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Intro:An example of Obedience in being called to the mission field….seemed counterintuitive in many ways but we were trying to be obedient to God…honestly, it wasn’t always easy.

Love is the root, obedience is the fruit.

Matthew Henry

The only proper response to this word which Jesus brings with him from eternity is simply to do it. Jesus has spoken: his is the word, ours is the obedience. Only in the doing of it does the word of Jesus attain its honor, might, and power among us.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Lutheran Pastor)

1. Humbly Approach the Word (v.19-21)

v. 19 Echoes wisdom from Proverbs:

Proverbs 10:19 ESV

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

v. 20

A self-reliant anger of man, even when directed at wrongdoing, fails to recognize that mere human reproach cannot change another person’s heart and thus does not produce the righteousness of God.

If we are to have boldness, we must be clean from wrath, that none may impute our words to that. No matter how just your words may be, when you speak with anger, you ruin all.

John Chrysostom (early church father who served as archbishop of Constantinople)

Big Question:

Do we really trust in God when we let the anger of man rule us?

If we are to be called followers of God, we should not be known as angry people. When we are quick to speak judgement or show anger it shows that we need to continue to grow in our faith as it reveals a mistrust that God is in control. When we lash out in anger all the time we are communicating that I know better than God. Man, this is a difficult thing to accept. When I’m mad all the time or just angry I need to stop and look at God’s word and see if I’m mad at the right things.

v.21

“Put away filthiness” the picture here is off someone stripping off dirty clothes based on the desire to have nothing to do with the first (in this case moral evil) ever again.

The thing that comes to mind here is summers back in Lawrence, KS were I grew up and believe it or not I played some football in elementary and junior high. Now those of you who have parented junior high or in most cases today middle schoool boys know exactly what I’m about say, but the smell of a locker of a bunch of teenage boys is a special kind of potent odor. I remember especially after summer workouts in the heat getting to the locker room or getting home and just being ready to peel of those sweaty disgusting clothes off of your body.

James is telling us this is how we should approach the moral filth that surrounds us. Unlike getting hot and sweaty that we can’t avoid, we can avoid putting ourselves in situations that will compromise our morals. The idea here is avoiding the filthiness of the world and putting on the Word of God instead. It’s a daily decision we have to make to focus on what’s good.

But it is not enough simply to die to the old life; there must also be resurrection and the manifestation of the new life. We put off the “grave clothes” of the old life and put on the “grace clothes” of the new life.

Warren Wiersbe

“Implanted word” - this concept is not something just found in the New Testament. It’s something we see in the OT as well. In fact we see a foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit coming as an aide in understanding God’s Word.

Jeremiah 31:31–33 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Ezekiel 36:24–27 ESV

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

James echoes the language of the OT writers when he talks about God when he states “the implanted word, which is able save your souls”

Key theme in James that he is emphasized here: “We work and put our faith into action, yes, but we do this by the Word at work in our hearts, the Word that has given us life (v. 18).

“Save your souls” refers to progressive sanctification…and ultimately the completion of God’s saving work on the last day. It’s a reminder that though salvation is a free gift of God our sanctification is an active pursuit that we must participate in and a key way to do this is by getting in the Word!

V. 19-21

Don’t you hate it when someone comes to a conversation or discussion with their mind already made up? There’s nothing worse than someone who doesn’t really want to listen but already has their response formulated before they hear what that person has to say.

Well, we are that way with God’s word oftentimes if we aren’t careful. We will approach it looking to justify our position and often will take verses out of context to do that. This is also something that is not new to followers of God as we see many examples of this in the OT when the people in the wilderness grumble & ultimately create idols because they reject God’s word for them given to them by Moses.

Also, in the NT we see wee in Acts 14:19 the crowds in Lystra stone Paul and drag out of the city mainly due to unbelieving Jews who rejected what Paul was teaching.

We don’t want to be arrogant approaching God’s word. We wan’t to instead approach God’s Word expectantly. Unlike the Israelites in the OT we have the gift of the Holy Spirit which is a gift that helps us as we study God’s Word.

Action Step-

How easily are we angered? Would others categorize you as being angry often? Do you get angry about the same things that upset God? (idea of righteous anger)

How do you approach God’s word? Do we pick and choose the verses we like out of the Bible to fit our agenda? Or do we study the whole word of God looking for instruction in the whole counsel of God. Do you come to God looking to prove your view or are you coming ready to learn and be molded more into His image?

This is one reason I like to preach expository sermons. In my own weakness I’ll always gravitate towards books of the bible and passages that are easy to preach or avoid things that challenge me. In expository preaching the goal is to systematically go through the Bible teaching verse by verse trusting that God has something for us in the totality of scripture.

2. Stay focused on the Word (v. 22-25)

v. 22

“Be doers of the word” the only proper response to the Word of God (not just the gospel, but the entirety of scripture) allowing it to take root in one’s life.

Do you remeber this 90’s trend? These 3D posters were really popular for a while. You were supposed to just stare at them until the 3D picutre was visible to you. The intention was that you needed to stop and really take your time staring at it for it to work.

The idea of intently looking at something intently brings to mind what James is conveying here by comparing looking at God’s perfect word to looking at a perfect reflection of yourself in the mirror. The concept here is that if you look into that refelction and see something wrong, maybe some hair sticking up, or maybe some jelly that stuck to your face from breakfast, you’re going to do something to correct it. Common sense says you do something about it.

Well often times we look study God’s word, in essence looking into God’s perfect mirror, and then walk away doing nothing about what it reveals in us. James drives this home by giving us the example of the man looking into the mirror which he already reference earlier in chapter 1.

When I think about this I think about growing up and going to student camp. I don’t know if any of you experienced this or not, but it seemed like getting away from your hometown and being able to fully focus on God’s word always helped reveal those areas you weren’t so Christlike in and you left camp pumped up and ready to change, but then you got back home and went back to your old self.

Well we often do this as adults as well, and the key here is to really focus on God’s Word. It’s the idea of continually going back to God’s word to self evaluate. Imagine if you only looked in the mirror once a week or once a month and thought you were good for the rest of the week or month. This is how we approach God’s word and then we wonder why our lives don’t reflect the image of God that we desire.

The Law was never given to save anybody; the Law was given to reveal sin. The Law is a mirror. You don’t wash your face in the mirror; you examine your face in the mirror.

Warren Wiersbe

The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine.

Michel De Montaigne (French Essayist)

v. 25 James focuses on the Law of Liberty. This phrase is pointing to the OT law which as we know was fulfilled by Christ. Romans teaches us that the OT law was “holy, righteous, and good”, yet had no power in and of itself to have people conform to it. So the OT law did not liberate, not until Jesus came does the law liberate through the work on the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit that can change hearts.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This famous passage is perhaps one of the most important verses in the Bible as we see how important remembering God’s Word is. We see later in chapter 8 of Deuteronomy God reemphasizes the importance of not forgetting his Word.

If I can be honest this is an area where I still struggle. I’m afraid often times I find it much easier to memorize music lyrics, movie quotes, or random sports facts than passages of scripture. This is a great reminder to myself and us all that we must focus on God’s word, which should include storing his word in our hearts.

One thing I loved about some other churches I’ve been a part of is when the pastor choses a verse of the year for the church. The goal is that it was emphasized througout the year and read corporately every Sunday. It’s a great way to memorize scripture together and is something that you will probably see us do as we approach 2025. The challenge in my own life and for you today is how can you work on getting God’s word into your heart & mind. There are so many great tools out there to help us memorize his word so we really don’t have an excuse.

A surprising example of this was found in the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Open about his faith, fellow soldiers were impressed with his knowledge of Holy Land history when they visited Jerusalem, to which Eisenhower replied:

I practically had to memorize the Bible when I was a kid.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Eisenhower had a fascinating relationship with Billy Graham who really challenged him to live out his faith. This quote shows how the Christian household that Eisenhower grew up in played a huge role in his life as he grew older. When he was in the military and was in the Holy Land people were amazed at his knowledge, but for him it was as simple as having memorized scripture as a child. Powerful reminder of the importance of putting God’s word to memory!

Action Step- what am I and what are you doing to memorize scripture? What is your plan to spend focused time studying God’s Word?

3. Be Committed to Live Out the Word (v. 22 theme verse of the whole book!)

V. 22- The whole book of James can be summarized by this verse and is the heart of what James wants us to take away from his letter. Think of it like the Thesis statement that you have to write for papers.

Ultimately we have to put into action that what we hear. As a parent I can certainly relate to this as we often ask our children to do something, but in the end we don’t just want our kids to hear what we want them to do, we want them to actually do the things we ask.

If James’ words sound familiar they should. Like I mentioned last week there are many similalrities between the writing of James and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:21-27 states:

Matthew 7:21–27 ESV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Simply put, it’s not enough to just listen to God’s word. To be true followers of Christ we have to put into action to what we hear. David Platt in his commentary on James highlighted the difference between being “willing” to obey God’s word and actually obeying His word.

He talks about a book called “Back to Jerusalem” written by three Chinese pastors about the house church in China. They qualify it as disciples versus believers and note that the local governments are worried about believers (just hearers of the Word), it’s the disciples those that are fanatics (those who are sold out and doers of the Word) that these governments want to imprison and shut down. This is the heart of what James is trying to communicate. We must be doers of the Word not just hearers!

Closing:

I feel like in God’s perfect timing this message lines up with he start of VBS. I think about the many VBS’s that occur around the country and here locally and so many kids get to hear God’s word taught. Now don’t get me wrong I’m so thankful for that and think that VBS week is one of the most important weeks of the year in the life of a church. But we have to be honest and say that many kids will come and hear the word, but never actually obey the word by sure ding their lives to Christ.

Here are some stats:

VBS Stats (from Lifeway Research)

25 percent of baptisms reported by the SBC come from VBS.

Every one person trained in VBS results in 1.1 salvation decisions.

10 percent of people enrolled in VBS are unchurched.

2.7 million people enroll in VBS each year.

72,925 people each year accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

2,666 people commit their lives to church-related vocations through VBS.

56,386 people enroll in Sunday School/Small Group Bible Study as a result of attending VBS.

6 out of 10 adults say they experienced VBS as a child

and 1 in 6 note making a decision to follow Jesus at VBS

and two thirds of adults plan on sending their kids to VBS regardless of their church involvement

“Two-thirds of American parents,” Magruder noted, “are eager to send their children to a church activity where they will have fun experiences centered on what churches care about most: Bible stories, the gospel and worship.”

This shows us a lot of things. First it reinforces that we need to put energy and resources to this week every year. The impact it has on our community is profound and it’s a great way for our church to have visibility in our community. More importantly than that many people make decisions to follow Christ through VBS and we need to unashamedly proclaim the gospel, which we do, while we have these kids for a week.

The other side of this is that just coming and hearing bible stories is not enough. We need kids, and of course this is true of adults as well that come on Sunday, to respond to the gospel and obey the Word of God.

Action Step- How are we doing obeying God’s Word? Are there areas were we are still holding on to that we haven’t fully given to God? Is there something He is calling us to that we are avoiding? Think back to my example of going as missionaries….at some point you just have to obey no matter what the cost.

Today there might be a few different ways you need to respond.

The first way is that you might be one of those people who grew up in the church, attended VBS, Awanas, Sunday School, Youth Group, or other programs and heard the Word, but never responded to it. Let me encourage you to make today the day that you respond to the Word in obedience by trusting in Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

The second way is that you might be a follower of Jesus and have been living a life that knows the Word of God, but isn’t truly putting that faith into action. Maybe today you need to recommit to God right there in your seat or come up to the front and pray, that you will not just hear the word but be doer of the Word as James puts it.

Finally you might be like my family that is going to come forward today to officially join the church. Here at Liberty Baptist we value being part of a local church body. We don’t think we are perfect, in fact we know we aren’t, but together we strive to bring glory to God through worship and studying his word, and by putting our faith into action to our community and around the world.

My family is coming to be a part of this wonderful local church and perhaps you’ve attended for years but never have officially joined…let me encourage you to make that official today. You might as what are the requirements of church membership, well that’s easy we believe the church is made up of people who have confessed Jesus as their Savior and followed through with believers baptism in obedience to the Word of God.

I’m excited about what God is doing here at Liberty Baptist, over 70 kids already registered for VBS, we would love for you to be a part of what God is doing here as well. So today you might need to respond to how God is working on your heart and brother Shave and I will be up front as Bruce leads us in song. Let’s pray….