Obedience in the Falling World pt 2

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an honor to share the Word of God with the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church. Our church exists by grace for glory in love.

I would imagine that there have been times when all of us have received gifts that we didn’t truly appreciate in the moment. Whether it be a fresh pair of socks, a regifted candle, or a book about the life of Andrew Jackson. For a man we’ll call George, he was bewildered when on his birthday his cousin got him a wearable fitness tracker. As he opened the box he mumbled a hushed “thank you,” and not so subtly under his breath added, “It’s not really my thing, but I’ll keep it.”

Day’s turned into weeks and the fitness tracker stood unused on his nightstand. One day, simply out of boredom, he decided to put it on and set it up.

In the beginning, he barely even acknowledged it. He just continued on about his day. But then, he started receiving notifications with friendly reminders to take more steps and get some exercise. Gradually, George began to take note of these gentle prompts. He started walking a little more, paying attention to his heart rate, even tracking his sleep.

As the weeks went on, George noticed subtle yet significant changes. He was more energetic, sleeping better, and in a generally better mood. He began setting fitness goals an started hitting them. The fitness tracker that he once wrote off as a bad gift, had become a great motivator and deeply influenced his life. A few months later he reached back out to his cousin and expressed his great thanks for this thoughtful gift.

I don’t share this story to be a promotion for fitness trackers, rather it is simply an illustration of how we can over look and neglect the good gifts given to us. Also, not every birthday or Christmas gift is good. My sister once got me a shoddy, broken toy magic kit… when I was 23 years old…

However, the principle I want to focus on this morning is how we can overlook the good gifts that have been given to us.

As we looked through James 1:19-21 last week, we focused on how the Word of God, the Word of truth, the implanted Word, is the key to understanding this first chapter of the book of James.

I think by and large, and I am guilty of this even myself, that we undervalue and under-appreciate the Word of God. Before we dive into our primary text this morning, I want to showcase two depths of how we take the Word for granted.

The first depth is this: Many people take the accessibility of the Bible for granted, often overlooking the profound blessing it is to have the Scriptures so readily available. For centuries, the Bible was inaccessible to the average person. It was kept in Latin, a language only a few educated elites could read, and copies were scarce. The story of William Tyndale highlights the tremendous sacrifice made to bring the Bible to the masses. Tyndale dedicated his life to translating the Bible into English, despite fierce opposition from the church and state. His work was revolutionary, granting everyday people the ability to read and understand the scriptures in their native tongue. However, this mission came at a great cost; Tyndale was eventually captured, tried for heresy, and executed in 1536. He "was strangled to death[e] while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned".

Today, we have unprecedented access to countless translations of the Bible in print, digital, and audio forms and countless translations. Yet, so often we fail to recognize the incredible privilege this represents. It is a grace of God that we can freely read and reflect upon His Word with ease! We ought to cherish this gift and not let it be collecting dust on our bedside tables.

The other depth of our under-appreciation for the Word of God is that we often forget Jesus Christ is the very Word! In the Gospel of John, Jesus is identified as the Logos, the divine word made flesh. This concept underscores Jesus as the ultimate revelation of God's truth, love, and wisdom to humanity. In all those centuries in which the common man did not have access to the Written Word, the spoken Word, the gospel of Jesus Christ was still going out and accomplishing that which God had set it to do. Our handling of the Word, our intake of the Word, our application of the Word is not simply about taking in a set of written takes. Every stroke of the Bible points to Christ! Embracing Jesus as the Word means understanding that His life, death, and resurrection are central to experiencing God's grace and guidance in our daily lives.

If we are being honest this morning, we so often neglect both the written Word and the One to whom the Word is pointing, the One whom envelopes the Word. The truth of the Word is not just an academic exercise, a set of facts that we can store in “good to know” columns in the deep recesses of our minds. It is a world-view shattering, sanctification building grace of God to be planted deep within our souls, watered, cultivated, and blossomed into lives lived out for the glory of God!

Church, may we cherish the Word of God and the God of the Word. Our primary text this morning will focus on what that looks like.

Open you Bibles if you have not already to James 1. In a second we will begin in verse 22. As I mentioned last week, I originally intended to group verses 19-27 into a whole, but there was just too much goodness to contain in one message. To summarize last week’s message, we should recognize that there is much for us to learn about God’s Word, we should take it in extensively, talk about it carefully, and realize that any anger we feel towards God’s Word is misplaced. We are to replace the wickedness in our lives with the goodness of God’s Word. Then we come to our first verse this morning. Read with me in verse 22.

James 1:22 ESV

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

Where we are picking up we see a great call to action. Last week as we looked at the three prior verses, we saw six different actions of genuine, tested faith. We could classify those as internal actions. They primarily focussed on how we are internally dealing with and processing through the Word of God. And now we’re seeing the call to action.

Let’s think about this sequentially and in proper perspective. First and foremost we must understand that hearing and doing are not at odds, but rather complimentary. I don’t want to dwell here too long and would refer you back to last week’s sermon, but hearing is a great thing! We ought to be quick to hear the Word of God and really hear it, studying, pondering, weighing, dividing, digesting it. The problem being corrected here, is when we hear good things and then do nothing with it.

Many of you know that wife’s Grandmother, Patricia Wells, recently passed away. As I was putting together remarks to share at the celebration of life, I was reminded of one particular way in which she showed she cared her loved ones.

Every now again, you’d be out and about, the phone would ring and it would be Nan on the other end. The conversation would almost always start the same way. With three dangerous words, she would say, “I’ve been thinking.” You never knew what was going to come after that statement, but you could be rest assured she about to take you to task giving unsolicited advice about a problem going on your life. Whether it be life insurance policies, thoughts on the housing market, stocks, investing, or even the right way to bake a fish. True story. Many times our youthful pride may have had us dismiss many of the calls, however, most of the time, she was right! More often than not, her advice was correct and we should’ve listened to her!

The guidance of grandparent can be good, albeit imperfect. But the instruction and life-implications that come from the Word of God is excellent and infallible! I can promise you beyond a shadow of a doubt that you will never regret ordering your life around this Word. It may be costly, it may be difficult at times, it may lead even unto persecution, but it will not be for not. It will be for your good and for God’s glory.

As a pastor I primarily have one goal when it comes to the members of this congregation. I want to help people be confident when their time on this earth is done that they will hear, “well done, my good and faithful servant.” Each time I take this pulpit I want to present the Word of God in such a way that honoring it’s intended meaning, digestible to those who hear it, and actionable. On any given Sunday that may look somewhat differently depending upon the focus of the particular text that day, but the end result ought to be the same. We should be learning to live out faith, growing in knowledge and sharpening our practice, knowing that our good works don’t save us but are the right response to seeing Christ as King. The same applies to our Sunday evenings at the park, Sunday School classes, and Wednesday night group gatherings. When we come together we should be sharpening one another and being better prepared to live out lives that glorify God. There ought to be practical effects to all of this!

Jesus said Himself

Matthew 12:50 ESV

50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (then what?) 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

If what we are discussing has no impact on our daily actions, then we are wasting our time and we are missing the point of what the Living Word, Jesus Christ, commanded of His followers.

Imagine the Christian walk as a road with two ditches. On one side people fall off into what is sometimes called easy believe-ism, that is they say yeah that Jesus sounds cool I’ll say I follow Him but I’m not all that interested in what He actually says. There’s no real desire for the Word. I would think that most of us familiar with this type of belief, we’ve probably even been guilty of it in seasons of our own lives. But on the other side of the road there is a different ditch that those who claim faith in Christ can fall into. These are those that are very much in the Word. They dive deep into the Word searching for kernels of truth unknown to anyone else, but the problem in this ditch is that in all of scholarship, in all of the study, those stuck in this ditch forget that the Word has practical application. That is is something to be lived out, not just studied. I see this play out in the pastoral world. Many of the guys I agree with theologically seem to often forget that a qualification to be a pastor or elder is gentleness and not quarrelsome, not puffed up with conceit. We can be so filled with good knowledge of God that our head swells beyond its bearings. But the best of orthodoxy, that is correct study inline with Scripture, ought to lead to the best of orthopraxy, that is living a life that is congruent with the principles and commands of Scripture. I don’t need to hear your specific and detailed theory on the end times if you aren’t loving your wife and leading your home. Even some of my favorite biblical mysteries to ponder over like Christophanies, or pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus earth, prior to the virgin birth, are much less important than my willingness to share the gospel with my neighbor.

Hear me correctly, we can ponder the mysteries of God’s Word and marvel at the complexities of His plan for redemption, but we mustn’t forget that we have been given this life to LIVE out our faith, being ambassadors for Christ, not JUST thinking about it. I think this is part of what Paul was getting out in his letter to the young elder Timothy. He says in 1 Timothy 1:4–5 “4 [charge certain persons not] to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

Church, we must be hearers of the Word, but we also must be DOERS. This word ought to change us, we ought to be growing in Christlikeness. And if we’re not, as we see at the end of this verse we are deceiving ourselves. One pastor once said, “Beloved, the Word of God is not meant to make us smarter sinners but to make us more like the Savior. And so it follows that it is not how much one is ‘in’ the Word but really how much of the Word is ‘in’ us, renewing and transforming our mind, as demonstrated by changed behavior.” As we sit under the right teaching of God’s Word, as we hear the repeated refrain of the gospel, it ought to be working through the veins of our soul and into our daily lives. Church, the Word of God isn’t a series of interesting TED Talks for your amusement, it is pointing us to the Living Word and transforming our lives by hearing and DOING, do not be deceived.

James, when writing this letter, was the pastor of the church of Jerusalem. As pastor’s do, he even includes an illustration for us in the text this morning. Look to the next two verses.

James 1:23–24 ESV

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.

There is some debate in the theological world as to how deeply we should mine the nuances of this verse. “Is James perhaps implying that the man in his illustration has a visible flaw on his face that he should see and correct (analogous to the way the Word of God reveals our sin)?” That would certainly be in line with how we see the Word of God working in the rest of Scripture. But instead of trying to go deeper than may be necessary, I think we can learn a lot by taking this example in its simplest form.

A man looks deeply in a mirror and sees every detail on his own face. Then he goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. That would be ridiculous! You just looked at yourself, how can you forget so quickly?

But is that not what we do with the Word of God? Whether it be in our personal reading or even here on a Sunday morning, hearing the preaching? We hear a faithful sermon, exposing a deficiency in how we are living our faith. We may even have our toes stepped on a time or two. Then we hear the amen, sing the hymn of response, get caught up in lunch plans and forget exactly what had just seemingly convicted us moments ago, never putting it into action. Listen, while I certainly appreciate every kind word you say to me about how you enjoyed a particular sermon on any given Sunday, I would much rather it make a lasting impact in your day-to-day life. I’m not hear to hear your praise but rather help you hear, “well done my good and faithful servant!” Don’t look into the mirror of the word then turn away and forget everything you saw! Be hearers and doers! Do so and you will be blessed! Look to the next verse.

James 1:25 ESV

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.

We could classify the illustration of looking into the mirror and immediately forgetting what you see as a negative example of our relationship to the Word. Verse 25, then, is the positive example. Instead of looking and forgetting, but hearing and acting, the believer then will be blessed in his doing.

Knowing that James is writing to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, to jewish believers, should help us understand that they would’ve been no strangers to the Law. A Word used all throughout the New Testament to refer to the Old Testament. What is interesting for our understanding this morning is that the Law is called perfect and described as the Law of Liberty.

We must remember that perfect can not only mean “without blemish” and certainly God’s Word in the Law is without mistake, but that it also means “complete.” “The law which in this context stands for the Word of God in general is a perfect reflection of the character and demands of the Holy God. The idea of the perfect law is that of “consummate soundness, wholeness, completeness, finished, reaching its end, wanting nothing. It is God’s final word and it is complete, embodying the full revelation of God in Christ Jesus.” The Law, as we talk about often even in our Children’s question at the beginning of service, was always pointing to Christ. For the believer, it is not something to be discarded, but something that Christ fully embodies for us. He came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them.

Notice the second part of the description here. “The law of LIBERTY.” The focus here is on the redemptive power of freeing believers from the bondage of sin accomplished by Christ, imputed by faith, and lived out by the believers. We look to God’s Word, not to figure out how to be good enough to make it, but that in seeing the standards of righteousness we might be freed from the pains of sin and joyously serve our God.

I saw a recent example of this shared online. An apologist what talking about the overcomplicated and contradictory rules that have developed in modern thoughts in regards to relationships and consent, power differentials, and lived experience. The better, much simpler, and biblical approach to this issue is simple, “Do not have intimate relationships outside of biblical marriage.” If we recognize the sin, exposed in the Word of God, and course correct accordingly, we are spared from heartbreaking, complicated relationships and we are freed to enjoy life within the framework of God’s revealed Will.

True liberty is living as we should, not as we please! Everyone has code. Even the atheist anarchist lives by a set of principles. I’m not ashamed to say that biblical principles are the best to live by! They are free from the shackles of sin! “The believer is not free from the obligation to do God’s will as reavealed in His Word, but love works in him the desire to do his Father’s will. Men are free when they want to do what they ought to do. This is the ‘splendid paradox’ produced by living faith in the gospel through the indwelling Holy Spirit.”

And those who do will, as we see at the end of verse 25 here, will be blessed. Blessed with a blissful peace knowing that they are serving the One true God. Those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord have God! They have their Father! And in having The Father they have everything! They share in the inheritance of glory! As the hymn that was mentioned a few weeks ago puts it, “Blessed assurance Jesus is mine, O what a foretaste of glory divine!” I’ve been consistent in reminding you that this doesn’t mean your life will be easy. The storms, trial, and temptations will come. But when you face the storm with and obedience, relying on the Holy Spirit, the God of your salvation, you can still hold your head high and look forward to that day when you will hear well done my good and faithful servant!

So let’s look into some very specific practical implications of this idea of hearing and doing. Look at the last two verse of our text for this morning.

James 1:26–27 ESV

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.

As we come towards our landing for this morning, James gives us three direct applications for what we have been walking through thus far. One negative and two positive.

First he says if someone thinks he is religious but does not bridle his tongue, deceiving his heart, then that person’s religion is worthless. What does it mean to bridle the tongue? A bridle is used in a horse’s mouth to guide it and give it direction. An unbridled horse could take off in any direction at a moments notice. We will dive deeper into how we talk about people and what we talk about more as we go through the rest of the book of James, but for now, just know that the person who is unable to show restraint, incapable of control in communication, then they are actively against God’s Word. Spurgeon said, “If religion does not salt your tongue, and keep it sweet, it has done nothing for you.” In many ways, James is foreshadowing what doctors would do for centuries but for spiritual health, not physical. He’s saying it’s time for your spiritual check up, “stick out your tongue.” Our tongue so often reveals what is in our heart. If you are habitually exposing an unbridled tongue, than may today be the day you renew your repentance.

Next we come to the positive examples of religion. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction. Now this word rendered “visit” in english has deeper implications than stopping by and saying hello, however that is certainly an excellent start. It involves caring for, looking after, providing for, these most vulnerable members of society. The word visit is also written in the present tense. It’s a call for a habitual practice, not just a single, isolated moment to check the box of “do-good-ism”. Church, it’s important to note that this book isn’t just written to those in vocational ministry. When you go out of your way to care for the shut-ins, to visit the afflicted, to care for those in need, to volunteer with Sunrise Children’s Services, you are actively living out true faith in God! If you haven’t sought to be with and care for those in need, may today be the day you not only hear but do!

Lastly, we read pure and undefiled religion is also “to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Church, we live in a fallen world. Temptation lies around every corner. We can think of this world like an ocean and we’re called to be boats. A boat’s purpose is to be in the water. But a boat becomes more and more ineffective, useless even, when water gets in. Too much of the water gets in and the boat sinks. We must keep our boats firmly anchored to the Word of God and keep the water of the world out.

Paul wrote this in 2 Timothy 2:21

2 Timothy 2:21 ESV

21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

We give all glory to God for any good in our lives and are completely dependent on the Holy Spirit as we walk this life. And at the same time, we are to be actively taking off the old garments and putting on the new. Rejecting the lures of temptation, and being free to serve the Lord with joy.

Y’all, as we conclude this morning, let it be known, the Word of God is good as is the God of the Word. Every part, every chapter, every word, every letter, points us to the ultimate goodness and grace of God poured our on the rugged cross on Calvary. Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again so that all who believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life, abundant life. When we come to see Christ as the Lord He is, we are sealed for glory, but also enabled to serve Him now! We are freed from sin and our eyes are opened to the goodness of God’s will. I’ve said all throughout this message that my goal in everything I do hear is to help people be confident they will hear well done my good and faithful servant. We have walked through some of the ways in which we fall short of well done. When we sing this hymn of response, if you want help gaining confidence you will hear just that, make that known. Talk to me then or find me after we conclude. I’m not interested in dramatic displays, I’m interested in authentic faith that comes from seeing Christ as the Lord He is and joyfully ordering your life around Him, The Living Word. May we not just be hearers of the Word, but doers.

Let’s pray.