James 1:19-27

Intro

Hey Y’all

How’s it going?

Cool cool.

lets get in to it we’ll still be in the book of James

And So tonight I want to look at what the relationship between belief and obedience.

What sort of impact should the commands of christ have on our lives?

How does faith play a role in that?

Last week we looked at how faith plays a role in trials and suffering.

That the life we live if we are faithful be an enduring life in the face of struggles and trials, in the face of suffering. That no matter what we are steadfast in our pursuit of Christ, that through that we count it all as joy.

context

SO tonight we are going to be looking at how does faith play a role in obedience to christ?

So that’s where we are gonna live tonight. What does authentic faith look like. What does it look like to have real faith?

SO if you have a bible, we are gonna be in James 1:19-27, if you need a bible throw a hand up and we will get one to you. Anyone need a bible?

Cool cool.

So James 1:19-27, while you are flipping there let me set the scene.

Last week James kind of set up a choice, christ or ourselves.

Christ or unchecked desire. Painting this picture or a cross roads, one that leads to death and one that leads to life.

basically saying, which way?

SO tonight, James is telling us, if we are choosing christ, this is what it’s gonna look like.

This is what fully following Christ looks like.

Here is are the markers of authentic faith.

So what is faith? Let’s define that,

faith means to trust something, means to believe something and act on that belief.

Think of it like this,

This past weekend we were at a wedding in Pensecola.

and the venue was super nice, really pretty wedding.

But when we got there we are walking to our seats, just kinda pick a row, and what i notice is, the chairs, are really, but also look very plastic. Not in a bad way, but to me they kinda looked like they may not be big boy approved if you know what i mean.

I’m what you call a big boy.

So I’m looking at this chair, kinda wondering, is this bad boy gonna hold me if I sit in it?

Cause that’s the last thing you want to happen anywhere, let alone a wedding is the big guy breaks a chair just by sitting in it.

Just not a good look.

So, I sit in the chair, very gingerly, and guess what, it holds. Now did i feel it flex, absolutely, but i held me.

So what did I have in that the chair?

Did I have faith in the chair?

I trusted the chair would hold me.

How did i know i trusted the chair to hold me?

I sat in it.

It would have been one thing to walk up and say, yeah that should hold my big self but then be big weirdo and stand up the whole time during the wedding.

But what did I do? I trusted that the chair would hold. —Thankfully—

But that is what faith is, that i what it means to have faith in something, to trust something,

to believe and to act.

SO with that in mind, lets read this passage together.

James 1:19-27, but befire we do that, let’s pray for time in the word tonight.

pray

okay cool, read this with me.

James 1:19–27 ESV

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 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. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 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. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Okay cool, so what is going on here?

Like we just said, James is setting up an argument for what authentic faith looks like.

He starts by saying, here are some attributes you need to have and you need to not have.

Thank he backs up and says, here is what a whole life of authentic faith, following Jesus should look like. Then he gives a picture of what the outflow of following jesus os. what does a person do because he followed jesus?

This is the man at the cross roads who has chosen jesus, and is asking now what?

For some of y’all this is you.

You are a new follower.

For some of y’all this is a reminder, because you never grow out of this

Some of you, haven’t follow jesus, and this is a preview of what a life of following jesus looks like.

and some of you this is going to hit you differently, because you thought you took the road to follow Jesus, but you actually took the other road. You know but you don’t believe.

You trust, but you don’t actually sit in the chair.

This is what James wants you to contemplate. This is what James wants you to think about.

Because if you miss that, you miss the whole of the gospel.

P1- the word takes root. Christ sets up shop. Humble submission to Christ. The word gives us faith.

So let’s look at what James is say, he starts this section off by saying, “know this.”

When ever you see something like that in the text, this is basically James saying, listen up, this is important.

and what ever comes after that, you should probably know.

And even more than just pay attention, this means, know this, internalize this. Understand this. Let this become part of your being.

and what needs to become a part of our being, no matter what?

That we would be quick to hear, slow to anger.

Why? Because anger does not produce righteousness.

Look what it says.

James 1:20 ESV

for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Think about that for a second.

What is the anger of man?

In one very real sense it is someone getting angry. Someone gets mad.

That doesn’t usually do well for you.

But when you see anger in the Bible, it is more than just being bad.

Anger is something stoked, like a fire, and when it gets out of control it burns things down.

Even Jesus warns against anger, he says Matt. 5:22

Matthew 5:22 (ESV)

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment;

Basically he equates being angry with actual murder in the broader context of that passage.

So this anger, is something that like desire last week, should nit be stoked, should not be given fuel.

But in an even broader sense, in the cultural context of who James is writing to.

They live in the Roman world.

This era is known as the Pax Romana, which is Latin for Roman peace, which is an oxymoron.

All that means is, Rome was at peace with Rome, because 100 years earlier they had fought a civil war, which culminated in the assassination of Julius Caesar.

But to the rest of the world, Rome was conquering.

Rome was always at war, constantly angry with the surrounding people.

London is founded only about 20 years before this letter is written, why? Because the Roman’s were at war.

This was what the surrounding people of the Roman world, those who were bearing the full brunt of the Roman war machine would say. They called it Bellum Romanum which is War the way the Romans did it.

Scorched earth, one British man is said to have said of the Roman’s, They create a dessert and call it peace.

So the anger of man, is both individualistic, and group as a whole culture.

James is saying, nothing good comes out of this.

and look at the world we live in right now. Does anything good come out of just reactionary anger?

I know it’s only August, but as we get closer to Election Day, look at how the anger will get ramped up, it’s already at a high point, but as we get closer look at how even more it will ramp up. From the news outlets, to social media.

Watch it build.

The anger of man is a dangerous thing.

It does not produce the righteousness of God.

So James says, therefore.

Which what are we supposed to do there? When we see therefore? Gotta say, what’s it there for.

So because of these things, here is how you become slow to anger, quick to listen.

put away your old self, let Christ put to death your old self with the implanted word.

Look at what he says.

James 1:21 ESV

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

receive with meekness, the implanted word.

Receive with humble submission, gentle submission to Christ.

Humble yourself to the teaching of Christ.

James is the word saves your soul. Christ implanting his will, changes you.

Humble submission to Christ gives us faith.

Look at the imagery here, the word is implanted.

This is like a tree that is planted and its roots are going every where, invading every facet of your life.

I have a neighbor who will remain anonymous, but their drive way is destroyed, because the trees around have literally burrowed in to the cement. I think it’s actually an asphalt driveway, which is softer that cement, but the tree roots literally have buckled this thing

The roots have invaded and changed.

This is what the word does, this is what Christ does when he implants himself in your life.

It becomes a part of who you are, it busts up your old self.

Christ grows your faith to submit to the word, as you submit to Christ.

P2 - Obedience is Belief made manifest. Denying ourselves. John 13:16. we are going to be like him, we must do as he did. We aren’t exempt. we struggle with this, we want the kingdom without the king.

So let’s keep going.

Because as your faith grows, this starts to show in your life.

Look what James says in 22, James 1:22

James 1:22 ESV

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

This is simple, if you believe it, you will do it.

So here is what this is talking about, simply, acting on what you believe. I don’t want to deep dive this right now, but this verse can be twisted to argue for a works based salvation, it’s not.

We will get in to that a little more in depth when we get to chapter 3 of James.

But what this is saying is, simply, be someone who does the word, who actually follows,

not someone who hears the word and says, yeah thats a good idea.

But actually acts on what they believe.

doer is a verb, it implies action.

How many of y’all had made plans in the group chat and they never leave the group the chat? We are gonna go to the movies or let’s all go play pickle ball, and you never actually do.

thats what is going on, you all like the idea of pickleball, or going to the movies, but until you go and do it, you have gone and done it.

Look at the last little phrase James adds to this verse,

deceiving yourself.

if you only hear the word, but not do the word, who are you deceiving? yourself.

Then James gives this picture of a man looking in to a mirror and then forgetting what he looks like, and just goes away.

How many of y’all look in the mirror before you get ready for school? I know it’s not all of you.

But girls especially, how many of you would just wake up and go to school as is? some of you might

Your hair is crazy, sticking up, and you’re just like, nah this works. For me, when I wake up in the morning, my hair looks like jimmy neutron. Straight up, that’s why at camp i’m in a hat at breakfast.

But what if I was like, no this works. I look good like this.

I’m deceiving myself, I’m sure LL will testify, i gotta do something with my hair, i look all ragged, beard is sticking out.

I’m deceiving myself.

This is really simplified, but this i think is the part we struggle with, i think in some part all of us struggle with hearing and not doing.

because it is a whole lot easier to do what we want than what we ought to do.

look at the words of Jesus, He tells us this is what we have to do to follow him, in Matt. 16:24

Matthew 16:24 ESV

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

This is what we struggle with, deny ourself and pick up our cross.

Continually dying to ourselves. Kill your sin. This is the hard part of the christian life.

All too often we what we want on the Christian life, is how can i add christ to my life as is,

but what Christ is saying, I become your life, you become like me, i don’t become like you.

This is our struggle, we fight against the submission, especially as Americans, we don’t like submitting.

We love control. We crave it.

We want the kingdom, without the king.

But Christ says, die and follow me.

So how do we do this?

James says, the one who does, not only hears is the blessed one. how?

We look to christ.

The one who looks in to the law of liberty.

Not the law of the old testament, but the law of Christ.

That Christ frees us to follow him, he changes our desires, changes our will to follow him.

going back to this theme that runs in through this book.

Obedience is belief made manifest.

obedience to christ is our faith in christ made tangible.

P3 - We play a role in becoming like christ by loving those he loved. Things we don’t have to pray about. Join in kingdom building by building up the least of these. Upside down kingdom.

The in this last chunk, James gives an example of what the out pouring of following Christ looks like.

In the overflow of your walk with christ. Can you do three things?

Control your tongue, do you look out for those who have no one, that is what James means by widows and orphans, who were the the most forgotten about people in that society? Widows and orphans. Those without family, those who had no one. That can look different today, but sometimes it can still be widows and orphans.

and then, are you not caught up in the things of this world.

These three things go together, if you can control your tongue, you wont be caught up in the things of this world, and if you aren’t caught up in the things of this world, then you will look out for the least.

When we look at these things here, I’d put these on a list of things you don’t have to pray about,

Like when you pray, you aren’t asking Jesus, “Hey, should I control my tongue, should I maybe not say those things, or talk like that?”

Like you already know.

Same for widows and orphans, for those with no family/friends, you don’t have to pray about if you should help them.

Real world example, we stated a ministry here called Jesus Hands which provides food for elementary school kids who need food over the weekend, some kids will go home on friday having eaten lucnh and then wont eat again until Monday morning.

As a church, we didn’t have to set out a period of prayer to decide if that was the right thing to do, it just was.

This is how we build the kingdom.

We join in the building of the kingdom by building up the least of these.

One of the early christian distinctions in the 1st and 2nd century in Rome was how christian community took in orphans, basically what we would call a mission strategy today, to them was just following Jesus, was to go to brothels and take unwanted babies and raise them, and then through providing for the children, they get mom as well, and guess what the church exploded.

The world was caught up building their own kingdom, Christians are called to build up the kingdom of God and how we do that will look radically different than how the world build it’s kingdoms.

So what James is saying, if you want to see if you are rightly following Christ, look at your life, how do you treat people? How do you interact with the world around you?

Do you see the world as enemies who need to be fought, or do you see the world as you once were as sinners in need of a savior?

If not, James says, then what you believe is worthless, because you don’t actually believe it.

Timeless Truth: If we are going to follow christ we have to actually follow him. the word implants in us and changes us.

So here is the truth in this passage.

if we are going to follow christ then we have to actually follow him. We have to actually do as he does and live like he lived. We have to become like him.

I’ve used this before but in Matthew 8, someone asked Jesus let me follow you after my parents have died and I get my inheritance, then I can follow you. Basically saying, let me live my life how I want first, then i’ll follow you

and Jesus says, no give up your life now and follow me.

and the very next verse, the text reads, and Jesus got in the boat, and his disciples followed him.

They also got in the boat.

They followed him. The picked up their feet.

This is what we have to do, and the way we do this, is by keeping out eyes on Christ, by waking up and dying to ourself and following him.

Truth for our context: “Doing the word” is going to be increasingly unpopular in our world. We will need endurance. We will need steadfast faith. A faith that has substance.

And so for us today, this will be difficult.

It is going to be increasingly unpopular to do the word. To live out our faith. This is where we will need an enduring faith, a steadfast faith.

Your faith in Christ has to be founded on more than just feelings and emotions but on action and walking. To live for Christ in this world is going to take an authentic faith, a faith that can take a punch, because this world will hit you and will hit you hard.

P2Christ

So here is what you need to ask yourself.

Do you believe in who Jesus is? Do you believe in His gospel. That he has defeated death on the cross by rising form the grave. That the good news is he has made a way for us to have life, a way for us to come back home, made a way for us to be sons and daughters of the king.

So do you know Him?

If you are in here tonight and you are not sure, ask yourself why. What is keeping you from following Jesus. Or if you are in here and you think you know Jesus, but you definitely know you aren’t living for him, or following him, you may want to ask yourself if you actually know him.

Remember it’s one thing to know about Christ, its another things to know him and place your faith, place you trust in Him. Do you actually know him?

As we sing this last song, and confess what we believe in, ask yourself, do I actually know Jesus. If you need to talk to someone, come snag me, grab an adult, grab the friend who you came with.

Come see Christ as Lord, come see Christ as King.

Pray with me.