Obedience in a Fallen World pt 1

Grace to you and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a privilege to be back with the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church sharing the Word of God in truth. Our church exists by grace, for glory, in love.

Many people in this room will be familiar with the name Charles Ponzi. If you’re unfamiliar with his name, you may be familiar with his namesake, the Ponzi scheme. While the fine details of Mr. Ponzi’s scheme are a bit convoluted, it basically went like this. He got people to invest their money with him, promising a 400% increase by exploiting a flaw in the shipping industry. The flaw was legitimate. There was a way to exchange international postage for American postage that would give a profit. However, after receiving significant investments, there was no way for him to use the exploit on such a large scale. Instead of closing up shop, seeing the infeasibility of his plan, Mr. Ponzi continued to take on more and more investors, using the new investments to payback his original investors. It’s what’s been called also been called robbing Peter to pay Paul. But for a short period, people were unaware of this and continued to invest. At one point Mr. Ponzi was making $250,000 a day, in 1920! But eventually, the instability of his plan would catch up to him. His later investors would try to recoup their money, only receiving 30 cents on the dollar of their original investment. Mr. Ponzi would spend the rest of life bouncing back and forth from trial to prison and eventually spending the end of life in poverty in Italy.

I bring up Mr. Ponzi, not so much to give a history of the details of his scheme, but more to focus on its short success. How was it possible for this man to convince so many people to invest in this plan?

It was because he was a magnificent talker. He talked a big talk, but he didn’t have the walk to back it up. He pitched people on ideas that he knew he had no plans deliver on. He looked like one thing on the surface, while being something completely different beneath the surface.

In regards to the text that we will be walking through this morning, it is my concern that many claiming to be Christians, claiming outwardly that they understand Christ to be their Savior, are exhibiting Ponzi Faith. Talking a big talk about the riches of faith they enjoy without any intention of walking the walk behind the talk.

As you have heard throughout the first two weeks in our journey through James, this is the book of tested faith. The problem with Ponzi faith is that when it is met with scrutiny, it falls apart. But genuine faith, faith in Christ that not only sounds good, but has an impact to the very core of our souls, withstand the storm and we have seen in the first two weeks in James, comes through the storm all the stronger.

If you would, open your Bibles to James 1. Today, should we be able to get through it all, we will begin walking through verses 19-27. As we place this in the context of the rest of what we have been reading, we need to be reminded that James is writing to Jewish believers that have been dispersed from their home in Israel. He know that they have certainly been tested. He knows that they have encountered both trials and temptations. He has encouraged the original recipients and us by extension, to find Joy in Christ through the suffering. He has reminded us of the goodness of God even when we can’t see the forest through the trees. He has reminded the readers of this Word that God has saved them through the preaching of His Word and in accordance with the Word. The overall emphasis has been that the eternal glory outweighs the pain of suffering and the lure of temptation. And now where we pick up in verse 19, we will begin to see the specific description of genuine faith, this will serve both as a litmus test of our faith and direction for how to live out our faith for the glory of God. Begin with me in verse 19.

James 1:19–20 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.

In just three verses, James provides us with six verbs, six actions, that are proper fruits of faith in the life of the believer. Let’s break these down as we build out the picture of genuine faith.

The first is “Know”

James says “Know this”

I never want to be overly microscopic, zooming in on so far that we get lost from the greater picture, but I think this is too important to pass over. The implication is that there is something that these suffering, tested, and tempted believers need to know.

An important reality for all of us to realize is that we never grow above learning. Other translations like the NASB, translate the beginning of this verse as “this you know” which makes it seem like a reminder. But the verb in the greek is an active imperative, a command to be followed. So whether this is a reminder or a fresh teaching, the point is that believers are to known and apply the rest of the proceeding teaching.

I wanted to focus on this in particular because we can be so quick to assume we have it all figured out. But we could spend the whole of our lives studying every word of Scripture and even still these finite minds cannot contain the infinite glory of God the His Word tell us. If we remember back to the very first words of this book, this book is a book of humility. It is the prideful fool who says he has nothing left to learn. In our gathering, in our studies, reading the Word alone in the quiet hours of the morning, there is still much more for us to know!

So what is that James wants his readers to know?

He first says lists off three actions of genuine faith: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”

Now, if we were to isolate these three imperatives, these three commands, they would be good words to live by. I would hope that all of us in all of our interactions would strive to do these three things. There is the old adage, “God gave us two ears and one mouth so we should listen twice as much as we talk.” There is good practical wisdom in that. I know I get myself in trouble in with my wife when she’s telling me something and I’m waiting more for an opportunity to butt in than actually hearing what she is saying to me.

However, it wouldn’t do justice in teaching the Word of God if you left here this morning thinking that you just need to be listening to others more. That may be a “good” thing, but it is not the meaning of this text. When James says be quick to hear, we need to ask the question, hear what? What is it that we need to be listening to. The answer to that question permeates all throughout this First Chapter. We are to be quick to hear the Word of God! It does you know good to be listening twice as much as your talking if what your listening to is utter foolery! We ought not to waste our time listening to ridiculousness, we ought to spend our time listening intently to the word of God. Or the Word of truth as its put in verse 18, the implanted word as its called here in verse 21.

It’s amazing how God opens our eyes through the consistent and open handed study of His Word. Even here in this command, when brushing past this verse in my regular reading, I always assumed it was talking about our regular interactions other people, but when I sat down to truly study, really evaluating, really listening, really wrestling with the Word, its clear that any implications this has to our interactions with other people is secondary to how we ought to be interacting with God’s Word. Those who have been saved by Christ, made known through the preaching of God’s Word, ought to be quick to listen to the whole of God’s Word, understanding just how profitable it is as we seek to live our lives for the glory of God. Charles Spurgeon said, “Because is is by the Word that we are begotten: let us be swift to hear it!”

One evidence of genuine faith is a saturated intake of the Word of God. We ought to be quick to listen to the Word of God, then, we read slow to speak. This is a call to restraint and ill-considered reactions to what is heard. I want to make sure that I am heard carefully on this point. But we ought to be slow to speak about the Word of God. Hear me correctly, I WANT you to talk about the Word of God. I want you to be having daily conversations with others about the Word of God. I want you to be having daily gospel conversations with unbelievers about the Word of God. I don’t talk about it enough, but we have a bowl out in the foyer where I encourage you to drop a stone in any time you have gospel conversation with someone else and any gospel conversation is going to be a conversation about the Word of God.

So what do I mean when I suggest that this verse implies we ought to be slow to speak the Word of God? I mean that you ought to be very careful not to speak above the Word of God. Every time I walk up to this pulpit, it is a fearful thing. I am not suggesting that I have never gotten anything wrong, I am surely going to be corrected on many topics when I get to glory. But I sincerely give my best to rightly divide and seek to properly explain anything that is said from this pulpit. We will read later on in the book of James Chapter 3, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” We ought to be thoughtful in the way we use and communicate the Word of God. This book is not our plaything to be used for our amusement. It is the Very Word of God that has been given us by the very grace of God.

I mentioned this in passing in a previous sermon a few months ago, but we must be careful in how we use and share the Word of God. Too often I see some random social media post connecting a Bible verse to a particular day as some form of prophetic fulfillment, or even suggesting that the eclipse this summer would certainly be the second coming of the Lord because it passed over seven cities in America named Ninevah. We ought to handle the Word of God with more respect than that! When we have heard and handled, weighed and divided the Word, we can scream it from the mountain tops. If you want to speak the Word of God, and I hope you do, then speak this! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived and died and rose again. He did so so that all who believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life! You can take that to bank and shout it till the cows come home! But when you share this Word of God, you ought to certain that what you are sharing is “thus saith the Lord” not “thus saying the Brad.” That is why you will sometimes hear even in a sermon, me sharing a couple of views on a particular topic and I’ll give you my reasoning as to why I believe my position is correct, but I only want to speak in absolutes when it is not my opinion, but what God has made clear in His Word. Listen to the Word. Take it in, read it, hear it preached, play it on your car radio on the way to work, and be slow to speak beyond what God has made clear.

Then we read be slow to anger. Once more, there is a practical implication to our interpersonal relationships with one another, but that is a secondary application to James’ primary instruction. He primarily saying be slow to anger towards the Word of God and the God of the Word. One of my favorite verses that I appeal to often is 2 Corinthians 2:16. In that portion of the letter to the Corinthians, Paul is discussing how believers join in on the triumphal procession of Christ, how God works through believers to spread the gospel. He talks about how the aroma of Christ is spread by the church throughout the World. Then in verse 16 we read, 2 Corinthians 2:16 “16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” This means that to some the gospel, the Word of God, is received gladly, from life to life. But for others it is a scent of death to death, it isn’t received at all, it is repulsive. The Word of God is met with anger and repulsion.

We can recognize this easily when it comes to an unbelievers reception of the Word. I have seen folks so disgusted by the truth of Scripture that they storm out and make a scene. Or berate the street preacher for preaching about a God they don’t even believe to exist. That is not too hard to wrap our minds around. But James isn’t writing to unbelievers. He is writing to those who claim faith in Jesus Christ. And it was pertinent, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for him to address being slow to anger towards the Word of God. We’re even given the rationale in verse 20

“Be slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Dear Christian, we will see this play out more fully in the next paragraph of our text, but as you listen to the Word of God, as you saturate you life with the teaching contained therein, it is inevitable that something in there is going to rub you the wrong way. It is unavoidable. The Word of God exposes us to the righteousness of God and in seeing the epitome of righteousness, we are bound to see it’s antithesis, our own self-righteousness. We are going to see just how short of the glory of God we have fallen. And it is never comfortable when you have your toes stepped on.

When I was in college we had to take a certain amount of elective recreation classes. I had a friend who wanted me to sign up with her to take ballroom dance. I thought, why not? That’s an easy A! So we signed up and we start taking the class, we’re learning all the moves. I know I’m a baptist, but I can do a little swing and a little cha-cha! But we’d learn the dances, then it would come time to do the dance. The music would start, we’d get to our positions, and then we’d begin. Every now and then, we’d be flowing around, doing great, and my partner would out of nowhere, smash down right on my toe! In the moment I might even be angry! But then as we reviewed our steps, wouldn’t you know it, but it was my fault! I was out of step and got my toes stepped on! My anger wasn’t appropriate! I was the one who put my foot where it wasn’t supposed to go! I could huff and puff all I wanted but that wouldn’t change that I had made the mistake. If I continued making the mistake I’d continue to get my toes stepped on or I’d have to quit the class all together!

As we read the Word of God, it exposes all of the missteps we’ve ever taken. We could be angry. We could write all off and quit. But true faith that comes from seeing the Grace and Goodness of God displayed on the cross of your behalf, doesn’t leave walking away from God as an option. Instead, the right response to the stepping on our toes is to realize the error is us!

Last week we read about temptation, verse 14 states, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” This clearly lays the onus for sin as our own responsibility. To be angry at God for our own faults is misplaced, dangerous, and foolish. Proverbs 14:29 “29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.”

The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Anger because we have been confronted by our faults stifles our growth in righteousness. I have seen brothers leave the church for a time after they were confronted by their sin. After many years, by the grace of God, they returned and were restored, but it was certainly a season of foolishness on their behalf.

Dear Christian, Anger towards God or His Word is always misplaced. It may be natural, but the anger of Man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Just as a brief aside, anytime we talk about anger I want to be clear that anger can be complex topic in Scripture. The feeling of anger is not always wrong. You may have even heard me talk about righteous indignation before. Jesus Himself was angry at the self-righteous Pharisees in Mark 3. Evil acts should not sit well with us. It is often a righteous anger that spurs us to seek corrective justice for the atrocities we see around us in society. However, I also must caution us all to evaluate our anger. James is clear in our text this morning that “MAN’S ANGER” does not lead to righteousness. The Anger of Man is an instinctive reaction that is most often self-centered in its root. This is the anger that we must reject and correct.

So far we have seen the fruits of genuine faith or Knowing or Learning God’s Word, being quick to Listen to God’s Word, being slow to Speak God’s Word beyond what God has said, and being slow to Anger at God and His Word. So what are we to do with all of this?

James 1:21 ESV

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

As we learn and listen, tempering our extrabiblical musings and our anger, we are then to put it in action.

A friend of mine wanted to start a garden, he began with just a part of a field. A plot of ground covered in grass and weeds.

He first had to remove the weeds before he could plant anything. he mowed them down, then plowed the ground, then filled it. Multiple times, to break up the chunks.

However, the weeds ran deep, over the next few years, he repeatedly had to pull the weeds before they went to seed in order to fight back against the ground’s natural state.

However, in this work, he’s been able to sow seeds, seeds that have produced food for his family and his neighbors.

To this day, he still have some weeds, and there’s times when he’s neglected it more than I should, there’s not a week that goes by that he can ignore the soil if I want it to produce to its full capacity. Food comes from removing the weeds and cultivating the desirable plants. If he does it right, it means sustenance for my family.

In the same way we are called by our God and Savior to cultivate our lives. As we have seen throughout our exposition this morning and the book of James as a whole, the Word of God is the means of regeneration, therefore, the right response is to order our lives around the Word. This means as we eagerly hear the Word, restrain from inappropriate reaction, and bridle any angry rejection, we actually then put it into practice.

One pastor once said, “We all bring baggage from our old way of life over into the Christian life. Usually, we’re blind to much of it. We don’t realize that we’re displeasing God by our thoughts, words, or actions. As we begin to read God’s word, it convicts us of areas that we didn’t even know were sin. When this happens, the receptive heart cleans out the crud of sin and puts on the clean clothes of new life in Christ. If you don’t do this, the crud will prevent you from growing as a Christian.”

The key to all that we have discussed this morning is humility, or meekness. It is understanding that God is Good and His Word is Good. My heart is deceitful and this ole flesh grows weeds in the garden. It is seeing the God is greater than my sin in that by grace He paid its cost and that God is greater than my sin in that His direction is better to follow than the filth and wickedness of the heart. It is the meek and humbled heart that does not fight against God, but aligns with His Word. Because it is God’s Word, implanted in the heart of the believer, that saves both eternally and in the here and now.

“Too often Christians have a truncated understanding of the scope of salvation. While none would dispute that all men need the Word of Truth to be saved (regenerated, born again), many lose site of the vitally important truth that believers (not yet glorified) are still in "harm's way" (cp the power of the fallen flesh within us to tempt us as discussed in Jas 1:14, 15-see notes) and therefore in continual need of the "saving power" of the Word of Truth and the Spirit of Truth Who uses the Word to enable us to grow in grace.”

In our text this morning, be reminded that James is writing to dejected Jewish believers in the dispersion. He is reminding them that through the Word of God they are daily in need of sustenance. They aren’t being born again day after day, but they are finding their peace, joy, and comfort in the midst of affliction, being saved from the drudgery of life by continual and consistent intake and application of the Word of God.

As we come to a close this morning, I want it to be known this morning that I am not asking any of us to go forward from this moment living in sinless perfection. That is standard that we are unable to attain. It’s why we need Jesus Christ. His death on the cross paid the cost for everyone one of our sins past present and future. I am calling all of us to see the goodness and glory of God and His Word and order our lives accordingly! Saturate your life with the Word of God. Be open to Learn, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. As you learn the Word, put away all the filthiness and rampant wickedness that is exposed and receive with humble meekness the implanted Word, plucking the weeds of sin and watering the fruit of the Spirit. Cherish your salvation and lean on God for daily deliverance.

If you want to know more about any of this, come find me during this hymn of response. This is an opportunity to respond and act on what God has shown you in His Word today. Don’t delay.

Let’s pray.