A Reflection Of Truth

Introduction

James has shared much wisdom with us through chapter 1 of the book of James, and last week the topic shifted towards the word of God.

This weeks focus is still on the word of God, but James shifts from receiving the word, to applying the word.

James makes some very bold statements about people who only receive the word but don't put it into place in their lives in these verses….

Look with me in James chapter 1 verses 22 through 25 and I would like to speak to you on the topic of A Reflection of Truth

James 1:22–25 KJV 1900

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

So last week, the five steps that we discussed were designed to give a pathway to verse 21 in James chapter 1, and all five points led to receiving the engrafted word that was able to save our souls

I made a statement last week that I stand firm on, and that statement is that I believe for a Christian, there is nothing more important to our spiritual maturity than receiving the word of God

We have spent our entire lives being indoctinated by the word of the world, and right up until the time that we gave our lives to Christ and surrendered our will to his will, our interpretation of everything that happened to us in our lives is what made us who we are.

Look with me here in verse 22:

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

The word, but in this verse ties, the verse back to verse 21. In verse 21 we are given a gift, and that gift is the word of God, and here in verse 22 James petitions us to not only have that word, but to use that word when he says, BE doers of the word and not hearers only

Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. Lets us know what the word of God is good for when it says the word of God is.: Profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works

And Psalm 119 verse 11 tells us that the word of God has the ability to help purify us when it says, Your word will I hide in, That I might not sin against thee

Here in verse 22 James is calling for us to put feet on our knowledge, and not only hear a message, but learn it, and apply it to our lives.

The word of God obviously is the tool that we are given to live righteously, the tool that we are given in order to be purified

I went to refrigeration school, And in refrigeration school, they teach you a lot of basic knowledge that you'll need when you get into the field, But if all you ever did was learn the basic knowledge then all you would have is a hidden knowledge of one part of refrigeration.

It doesn't actually become your career until you get out of the classroom and go into the field and actually put the knowledge into play and use it to put food on your table.

Throwing out a few words, throwing out the terminology that makes it sound like you know what you're doing, doesn't actually do anything, other than serve to boost our egos

Talk is cheap! When one of our boys at the house Here's us tell them to take out the trash, That in itself doesn't get the trash to the bin…..The trash doesn't actually get to the bin until he gets up and takes it there.

Knowing something, and doing something are two different things.

Hearing something and doing something are two different things.

The word doer here, Means to be a performer. A doer is a performer.

Have you ever been part of a performance evaluation at work?

Typically it is when you are evaluated for your job performance.

If all you ever did was listen to what the supervisor told you to do, But actually never got up and did it, Then you would probably not have a good performance review, Because you are a hearer, and not a doer of the work.

So that is the application here, It Is that a hearer, Would then take what they heard, and use that to enhance their performance.

In this case, the performance would be the doing of the word or the living of the word

James is not the only one though that talks about hearers and doers Of the word

In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus says a few things about this topic as well during his famous sermon on the mount.

Matthew 7:21–27 KJV 1900

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Looking in verse 21, he said not everyone that says to me, Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, ………But look at what he says next!

But he doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven

Nowhere in that verse does it say, He that hears… the will of my father.

I'm sure we have all decided that we desire to know what God's will for our life is,… But what good would it do us to know Gods will for our life, ….But not be willing to do God's will in our life?

Look what he says in verse 24: He said, whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, Which built his house on a rock.

And we know that rock is a firm foundation.

*** So there are two quick things I want you to see about doers

Number 1. They have to be hearers first

You first need to know God's will, you first need to know what it is that you need to be doing before you begin to do it, otherwise you'll just be running around doing what you want to do, never asking God what it is that he would like you to do.

It would do us absolutely no good to be doers, if everything we were doing was wrong. So first a deer must be a hearer

Number 2. They must be willing to make sacrifices

Jesus said he who hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken Him unto a wise man.

We have to be willing to lay aside our will, our activities, our time, and even sometimes, our money, to do God's will

Jesus is giving us an example here of the difference between people who will hear “ Depart from me you workers of iniquity”, And those who will hear “well done my good and faithful servant”

And the difference between them, Is that one was a hearer Only, And the other was a doer

Then, at the end of verse 22 of James chapter 1, James says that those people who are hearing the word, those people that have a mouthful of scriptures, those people that love to share memes on Facebook of popular scriptures, but they are not living God's word out in their lives………He says they are deceiving their own selves.

James is implying that a man that thinks he has bettered himself just from the hearing of God's word, Or even knowing some of Gods word, But never living God's word by application, is actually just deceiving himself!!

James is talking about people that show up to church on Sunday morning for sundsay school, For the worship service, And for the preaching,

And those that show up on Thursday for Bible study, And they receive the word, They hear the word, They even make notes about what they heard,

But then they get right up out of the chair that they are in, Or the pew that they are in, and they walk right out of those doors and live the same life this week that they lived last week, Not allowing the word to change anything about them.

He says that i”m deceived by my own actions if thats the way I’m living! He says if I think I’m doing a great thing by coming to church then I’m decieved

……Can I tell you this morning that you and I have done nobody a favor, simply by being here….

This is a hospital….I come here to be repaired….I come here to be filled….I come here to be recharged…

.So that I can go back out and empty myself into this world by being the church, and by living the word of God!

It is hearers only That often split churches. They are deceived. They believe that their own opinion carries more weight than someone else else's.

Only profound deception could make me think that anything that goes on inside these four walls has anything to do with me! This is God's house. And not Beaverdam specifically, but churches in general.

Only profound deception can make me think that when I come to church that I should receive some kind of special credit for being here, and that other people should listen to me and respect me just because I woke up and came to church!

It always seems that the conflicts in the church spur from hearers Only.

It is usually those that don't do much work in the church, but they want to show up and give their opinion on how things should be done, and in turn they are upsetting and stirring up strife with the doers of the church that are actually performing the tasks and the work.

But even outside the church, this wisdom could be used. I don't care how much I know,……. until I get out there and do something, …my situation, my circumstance is not going to change.

I can hear the solution, but not be willing to take any steps to change things, but that's not going to help me.

Doers will always get things done. And hearers only will always cause strife and conflict, And sit around complaining about why the good things in life are not just falling in their lap.

I've caught myself being a hearer Many times in the past.

You see it's not the hearers, But the doers that get the job done, And it's the same doers that Jesus said he will consider to be wise

James says be doers of the word, and not hearers only.

Theodore Roosevelt once said: “I plead for a closer and wider and deeper study of the Bible, so that our people may be in fact, as well as in theory ‘doers of the Word and not hearers only.’ ”

Anonymous

In verses 23 and 24 James gives his own illustration of what it looks like to be a hearer, And not a doer, When he says:

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

James is illustrating for us here in these two verses The person that he does not want us to be. This is the person that he does not advise for us to liken Ourselves to.

I want you to know three things about this man that James tells us not to be like……

First… He looks Intently

In verse 23 he says for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass

Let's look at what that word beholding means….The word beholding, The way it is used, Means to take careful consideration

It means to fix the eyes upon, Or to consider carefully the subject being considered

So in other words, this is not just a passing glance. This man leans into the mirror and gets a really good look at himself.

Now, I would like to know how many of you ladies that are here this morning, just get straight up out of bed, throw on some clothes, and head straight out the door for work.

That's not how we get ready in the mornings is it? …. No you're going to get up, probably go use the restroom, and then go straight to that mirror…….Or if you were like my wife, you are going to go straight to the coffee pot and get it started,….. And then go straight to the mirror.

The reason you go to the mirror, is because you care what you look like. That's the point James is making here, is that this person he is talking about should care about how they look…..So they take a really close look, maybe even a long look

The look, and the mirror, both serve the same purpose in this illustration……The purpose is for the man, or woman, to see that there is a need that needs to be met.

You have hair that belongs on this side of the head, that is all the way wrapped over on the other side of the head, And mascara that has run down your cheek, you know what I'm talking about, ….there are needs that need to be met in order for you to look the way you would like to look

So the first thing we saw was that this person looks intently

Secondly I want you to see that this person…Sees Clearly

Verse 22 says what this person is beholding, what this person sees when they survey the image in the mirror, is themself in their natural state

Now I rarely meet ladies that want to leave the house in their natural state, Or at least that's what I gathered from years of living with one. Typically ladies are very well Put together when outside of the home.

So an observation that I have made over time, is that most ladies like to put themselves together a certain way before they leave the house, and they do this in order to achieve a certain look, and this look is normally planned prior.

But what this person in James’s Illustration sees when they look in the mirror, is not a put together image, but on the contrary, what this person sees is their natural face, no makeup, no hairspray, for the men…. no shave, no nothing

So to be clear, what this person sees when they look in the mirror, might be a 5 o'clock shadow, or it might be hair that needs to be done, it might even be makeup left over from yesterday that needs to be cleaned off

So it's not that this person has looked and not noticed anything, …. No, this person has taken a long intense look in the mirror, and they have seen that there are things that need to be dealt with about themselves

So look here, ..there is definitely work that needs to be done, it's not a secret, it's not hidden, and through careful consideration of the image in the mirror, this person completely and 100% understands that in order to be ready to leave the house, and look the way they desire to look, there are some things that need to be taken care of.

But look what we see next……Although this person looks intently, and sees clearly,

Thirdly, He or she also Forgets Immediately

Verse 24 says: For he behold himself, And go his way, and straightway, forgets what manner of man he was

So we see here that the problem was not that the information was not available, he saw the hair that needed to be shaved,

…she saw the bed head that needed attending to,

….the problem was not that this person didn't know what needed to be fixed,….

the problem was not that this person was misinformed about how bad the situation was……

And furthermore, it was not an accident that this person forgot!

This particular word used for forget, means to neglect, or to no longer care for.

This person didn't forget by accident, they just didn't care enough to do anything about it.

This does not speak to the severity of the situation, or to the clarity of the mirror, but instead it speaks to the condition of the heart of the person that made the observation..

This person walked up to the mirror…., leaned in closely,….. observed the image in the mirror clearly, ….saw the work that needed to be done…..And simply just turned and walked away.

That happens in churches all throughout this land every Sunday morning, every Wednesday night, for us, if it happened here, it would be Thursday night……

Pastors, teachers, preachers, and evangelists share the message, ..the gospel message, ..the word of truth, …and the Holy Spirit convicts lives,.. pricks hearts, ..and exposes sin in the lives of the people of the church, ..and then they simply just get up ………and walk back into the same life that they were living last week as if nothing had changed, ..And as if they had not seen any of the work that needs to be done.

Finally inverse 25 James says that there is a blessing to be found for the Christian that does three things…..1.Exposes himself to the word of God, 2.remembers the word of God, and 3.applies the word of God to his or her life

Verse 25 says but whosoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, But a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

This man that not only has a Bible, ..but gets his Bible out, and look into what James calls the perfect law of liberty, ..he looks into God's word, the truth ….where the freedom is found……

He learns the word of God, he hears the word of God preached, he is taught the word of God, and then he takes it, and he lives it, by applying it to his life where it is applicable.

He doesn't forget what he has learned……

Do you know how to remember the sermon? Take notes, and go back over it during the week so that you cannot only hear the word, but receive the word and hide it in your heart…..

We're talking about the kind of dedication to the word of God that says I don't just want to be the Christian that hears a sermon on Sunday morning, and then doesn't pick up my Bible again until next Sunday morning when it's time to go to church,

but I wanna be the kind of Christian that continues in God's word, and lives God's word,… applies God's word to my life, …and sees the power of the Holy Spirit, changing my life.

This is the person … The Doer, and not the hearer only, that says I don't just want to know God's word so I can say I know it,… but I want to know God's word so it can change me…..

Y'all that is the point of what we're doing here this morning……We are being changed by the word of God…..We are being equipped to handle situations in our lives with the word of God…..

It's not me equipping you, I'm just delivering the message that was delivered to me.

But the Holy Spirit is equipping you so that you can continue to change and be sanctified by the word of God.

James says that a person will be blessed in his deed……

The deed that he is talking about here is the performance. A doer is a performer, And living the word of God is his performance.

James says that while performing the principles of the word of God in life situations, God will bless us with the ability to do it

Do you want to overcome this trial? I'm sure you do….. well. Let me tell you how to do it…..Expose yourself to the word of God, apply the word of God to your life, and watch the Holy Spirit work

Do you wanna overcome the stress and anxiety that you've been feeling?….Then expose yourself to the word of God, Apply the word of God to your life, And then watch the Holy Spirit work!

Do you want to repair your broken marriage?……Expose yourself to the word of God, apply the word of God to your life, and watch the Holy Spirit work!

Do you want to figure out how to deal with the stress at work?…….Expose yourself to the word of God, apply the word of God to your life, and watch the Holy Spirit work!

The blessing comes with the obedience, and anything less than obedience won't foster the same result

If you're here this morning, and you have never given your life to Christ, you don't have a relationship with him, or maybe you have made a professional of faith in the past, but nothing ever changed in your life. You are still living the same life as you were before…

You see there's a process, with a blessing at the end for you as well…….The Bible says that if you will hear the gospel, …believe the gospel, and call on the name of the Lord for salvation, that you will be saved

Romans, chapter 10 versus nine and 10 says that if thou shall confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in my heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved.

For with the heart man, believe it under righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation

To believe in Jesus Christ Simply means that you believe that he is God, son,….. born of a virgin, ….that he lived a sinless life….He died on a cross for your sins and mine….And that God resurrected him from the grave three days later.

That is the gospel message and when you believe that in your heart,…. That's what it means to believe on Jesus

And for you, …the Bible says that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved……And I ‘ll tell you this morning, that the salvation that comes after that professional of faith is the largest blessing that you will ever receive in this life.

Would you call on his name this morning for salvation?

Christian, have you been continually being exposed to the word of God, but not applying it to your life?

Then this altar is open for you this morning as you could come and surrender yourself to him

Christian, have you been neglecting your Bible study at home?…..Do you only pick up your Bible to come to church?….This altar is open for you as well…The altar is open for you to come and get serious with God this morning and surrender your will to his will.

Have you been convicted to do something in the church, but you've not yet done it? This office is open for you as well this morning.. Come and surrender

That is all he ask of us, is to surrender…….Not my will, but yours be done….