Hearing and Doing the Word
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Hearing and Doing the Word
James 1:19-27
Introduction
I heard a story recently of a young man in church. He got up and gave an audible grown. And the lady next to him said ‘what’s the matter?’ He said, oh this preacher, he’s so boring. I could die. And the lady said do you know who I am? That young man said, No. And the lady said “well that man is my husband!” And the young man said ‘Well do you know who I am? She said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘thank God for that.’ I wonder if you have said something that you wish you could take back. Ever been a little too quick to speak? A little too careless with your words? Of course you have. We all have. It’s in our very nature. We so often don’t think before we speak. We don’t listen before we speak. God gives us two ears and 1 mouth but we use them in the reverse proportions all the time.
Now James 1, has some practical and timely wisdom for all of us. See verse 19:
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
That’s a famous verse. We all know it. I think if you and I took this verse to heart and applied it on its own, It would be a good thing to do. This is good wisdom. Our marriages would be better. Our work relationships would be better. Our church life would be better. It’s true and it definitely makes sense. And as much as I like that application, did you now that’s not actually the main purpose of why James gives us this verse? or verses 19-27. That’s not primarily what James is talking about.
Look at the context. What’s he talked about just before? This passage comes after James has taught us that maturity comes by enduring trials. And blessing comes from testing. So it’s about trials and testing. He is defending God’s character that in spite of trials and testing, he says that God is good. he is always good. And he does not stop being good. In fact, in verse 18 we see that this good God chose to give us birth through the word of truth. Verse 18
james 1:18-21
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
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.
God is so good that he enables us to hear the word. it’s the word of truth – the Gospel. It’s the Gospel that brought you to life as you came to faith in Jesus. and you came to know Him through his Word. but that’s not where it ends. It’s the word that keeps you going. You begin with the word. and you continue with the word. and it’s the word in verse 21 that is implanted which can save us.
So why do I say all this? verse 19 is in the context of the Word of God. get it? So actually, this section in verses 19 to 27 is all about God’s word and how it must transform us. so be quick to hear the word, slow to speak so you can hear the word, slow to anger because it stops you from hearing the word. it’s all about the word.
Now, what does James say about the word? it’s simple. Hear the word, accept the word, do the word. that’s my main idea. You won’t forget it. and yet it’s a hard passage. Not because there are hard ideas, but James says things here that really rattles your cage. he’s asking you to reflect on your life. do you hear, accept and do the word? Is that you?
First, James says hear the word
1. Hear the Word
Again, verse 19 it’s a great verse
james 1:19
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
Are you eager to hear the word? are you quick to listen to it? Or are you distracted? At that point, I go I don’t always do this. I’m often distracted by this. James is making it clear. Are there other things that stop you from hearing the Word, listening to God’s Word? Friends, it’s a spiritual battle. The evil one wants nothing more than to stop you from listening to the word of God. that’s what he wants. Because God’s word renews our minds. It points us to Jesus. it is living. It is active. It is a lamp our feet. Light to our path as the Psalms tell us. It shows us how wonderful the Gospel is. And the evil one doesn’t want that. he doesn’t want you to know God. he doesn’t want you to dwell on God’s Word. of course not. it’s a spiritual battle when you find it hard to hear the word.
So, James says rightly, be quick to hear the word. When you are quick to hear it, this means you are slow to speak. If we speak, we can’t listen. You don’t listen when you are talking. We’re just thinking about what we are going to say next, You ever come across those conversations when you just want that person to listen but you can tell they just want to speak. They don’t really listen. It’s true in human relationships, but it's true of our relationship with God as well. Listen to the word and let God’s word speak to you. Give it air time. See we live in a sound bite culture. Many can’t even focus for more than 30 seconds. Got to pull this out. But that’s not how you grow as a follower of Jesus. Be quick to listen, slow to speak. We need an attitude of sitting and listening, and hearing God speak. Do you long to hear God speak as you come to his word? Will you be quick to listen?
See what stops us from doing that?
It’s sin. it’s anger. Be slow to speak, and slow to become what? anger. It’s interesting these two things are held together. I can guarantee that the last thing I’m thinking about is to be slow to speak when I’m angry. I want to let that person have a piece of my mind. When you’re angry are your ready to hear God’s word? Of course not. I don’t listen even if my eyes are going over the bible at the right pace. I have to deal with my anger, my need for revenge, or whatever it is, before I hear God’s word. and more than just anger, verse 21. It’s filth and rampant wickedness. It’s sin.
Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
he’s saying put away all filth. All rampant wickedness. How can you hear the word of God if you are in continuing the same sin over and over again and have no desire to change? Put that away. It’s like planting seeds. I was in the garden doing some work. I get in there see all the weeds and to be honest, I just feel overwhelmed. It’s hard yakka. But all you gardeners know you need to get rid of the weeds. You need to get rid of the digusting stuff and then plant your seed, maybe put some mulch to keep the water in. you need to get rid stuff to help the seed grow. Or like painting your house. Something else I was looking into recently. You need to do the hard work to prepare the surface, sand and clean make sure its not wet before you paint. You want to hear the word? Repent of your sin. Get rid of it. change your life. Don’t play games with God. don’t come to church and go I want to hear the word but there’s an area of my life I’m not going to change.
It’s not doubt that drags people away, it’s lifestyle. I have a friend who just thinks i get the whole christian thing, it’s not the truth about Jesus that I reject, it’s this lifestyle i love. partying. do whatever i want. Now the word bounces off him. James says, get rid of the moral filth. Repent. Don’t be stubborn. Put that away.
But what are we to do instead?
2. Accept the word
Hear the word, accept the word.
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.
Notice the word implanted. receive with meekness the implanted word. when Jesus talks about the word, do you remember what he says in Mark 4? He talks about the word like a seed that’s sown. Some of it is rejected right away. It doesn’t even make it into the soil. It is taken by the birds straight away. And some of the word makes it in but doesn’t take root so it dies. And in another soil, the word takes root. It looks okay, but is choked by the world and then dies. James is saying a similar thing. The word is planted in you. think of the seed in a soil. This comes from Jeremiah 31. God promises that he will put the law – his word inside his people by the spirit. Implanted. It’s God’s work by his Spirit that enables us to understand the Gospel. And the Spirit enables us to hear the word about Christ. But you receive it. you accept it by faith. Now, don’t be confused. This is a word that can save you. he’s not saying the word the Bible saves you and Jesus does not or something like that, but our access to Jesus is through the word. and the Spirit works through the word and gives us access to Jesus. it’s the word that saves us. the implanted word by the Spirit of God saves us. so accept this word. Accept it.
but notice, James says accept it arrogantly? No. Accept it with meekness. That is, humbly accept the word. you can read the Bible with lots of different attitudes. You can approach the Bible study with lots of different attitudes. But the right attitude is humility. Why? He’s God, we’re not. we know a lot less than we think we do. humbly accept the word. Hear the word, accept the word. there’s a great prayer I know in the book of common prayer, I know we are Presbyterian but this is a good prayer. it goes Blessed Lord who has caused all holy scriptures for our learning. Grant Lord that we may hear them, read,mark, learn and inwardly digest them. that’s the kind of attitude we ought to have as we hear the word. accept it with humility.
Hear the word. accept the word. and third, do the word.
I was following a mate on facebook as he was preparing for his triathlon. Imagine doing that. It must be so hard. This guy had photos of the event. There were photos of him doing the swim leg. Then there were photos of him doing the bike leg. But then there were no photos of him doing the run leg. Imagine he said oh I’ve swam, I’ve ridden. I’m done. I think I’ll stop there. Well, he hasn’t done a triathlon. You can’t call it a triathlon if you haven’t completed the running leg. That’s not a triathlon. That’s something else. Duoathlon. Is there such thing? James says, yes hear the word. accept the word. but you also need to do the word of God.
3. Do the Word
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
He’s very direct hey. He’s the originator of the Nike Ad just do it.
Don’t just hear it. that’s important. but if you hear it and don’t do it. what are you? a hypocrite. that’s someone who says something but does something else. You pretend to be someone that you aren’t. No, do what it says. Put it into practice. Friends, what’s the question God will ask you on the last day? Do you think God will say. Hey how many sermons did you listen to? How good were your sermon notes? Of course we are saved by grace. It’s Jesus alone. But how we live for Jesus now matters. Did you obey me? How did you live your life? For to listen and not do what it says is to deceive yourself. That’s what verse 22 says. It’s scary how we can deceive ourselves. We know how to look in church. How to dress for church. How to act at church. How to be a Churchie person. But Jesus says, it’s about your heart. it’s not just what you know but what you do. it’s the same in the whole Bible. Jesus says not just what you know but what you do. that’s a genuine believer. In Luke 11 – there’s a woman who cried out blessed is the mother who nursed you, but you know who Jesus says is blessed? Luke 11:28
But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
You want to be blessed? Hear the word. Do the word. That’s what Jesus says.
And James gives the perfect illustration to drill this into us. look at verse 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. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
There have been mornings when I would roll out of bed. Long night. Kids have kept me up. I’d look in the mirror in the morning, stumble to breakfast. And my kids would just laugh ‘dad look at your wild hair. You look like a cone head.’ Gee thanks kids. I’ve got bits of hair under the chin. I’m Asian I can’t grow very long facial hair. Bit like whiskers. I look like a disaster. Now imagine, if I looked like that and I’ve got to conduct a wedding. I’ve got to shave. I’ve got to fix my wild hair for the sake of the bride and groom right. Imagine I looked in the mirror then I walked out the front door to the wedding. I walk straight out forgot what I saw and came to the wedding like that. You will say to me. What are you doing? What was the point? Why did you go the bathroom? Why did you do that if you were going to just walk out anyway and not do anything? In the same way, what’s the point of having our noses in the Bible and not let it change us? if you don’t do things differently. If you don’t actually live for Christ. It’s a complete waste of time.
So, for example, you read God is a generous giver in your quiet time. he loves a generous giver, you even underline it. yet it doesn’t change you. what’s the point?
You read God James 4:6
James 4:6 (ESV)
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
You get it. But it does not change you. your whole attitude is still me me me and how important I am. You don’t reflect on God’s word. you don’t change. Or you read we are to make disciples of Jesus. The first opportunity to share with your colleagues tomorrow, how was yesterday? Crickets. James would say, how did that change you? What’s different about your thought life? Your joy? Your contentment in Christ? How did you grow in the Word? What are you actually doing about it?
When we come to God’s spiritual mirror – the word. we can either deceive ourselves or be blessed. The one who sees the spiritual mirror, the word and walks away, forgets it, well they bare no fruit. But the one who has genuine faith receives blessing. What are they 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.
if you hear the word accept it and do it, you are blessed. See the true believer looks into perfect law – the Bible - that gives freedom. the Bible is not a joykill. it gives freedom. James words are very deliberate here. It’s not the law of slavery. It’s not the law of restriction. It’s law of liberty or freedom. That’s because we are only truly free when we know the boundaries of right and wrong. It leads to blessing. I remember Tim Keller explaining it this way. this really helped me. In his book Reason for God he says ‘Think of the world of music. Is true freedom for a pianist the freedom to bang on any keys she wants? No – the ability to be truly free to play and create at a high level comes from restricting her freedom with years of disciplined practice. The same is true even for manmade creations – you are free to forego oil changes in your car, but if you do it, your car will eventually break down. True freedom to perform at its highest capacity comes when the car is treated according to how it was designed. Tree freedom is found in living in a way that is true to your nature. We are made by God. Living for him is true freedom. now of course, only Jesus fulfils the law. we don’t. only he lives it out perfectly. and we by faith in him now live to love others. love God and love others. So we perservere by living for Jesus, doing the word he gives us. I think we all get this. There’s no point having information without transformation. Do the word of God.
And so, let me give you three tests as I close.
Test number 1
1. Are you controlling your tongue?
He will pick this up later in James 3, but that’s the test he gives in verse 26 here
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
What’s the point of reading the Bible if with your tongue you slander people, gossip, make coarse jokes and verbally abuse people? What’s the point of stuffing your head full of Bible if you are rude, with your tongue you are full of anger? Instead speak words marked by gratitude, thankfulness, to build people up in Christ, speak the truth in love Paul would say. Our tongues the way we use our mouths is a great measure of maturity and faith. What comes out of mouths is an overflow of our hearts, Jesus says, and it’s a great measure of where our hearts are at. Especially what we say in the heat of the moment. Are you taming your tongue are you doing the word of God?
What about test 2. This is an interesting one. Test two
2. Are you caring for the poor and needy?
James 1:27 (ESV)
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this:
To look after those who are rich, who are wealthy, those who can pay us back. Those who we like. Those we get along with, to look after those who invite us over for dinner. Is that what it says? No.
James 1:27 (ESV)
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.
It’s to look after those who cannot care for themselves. It’s those who are helpless. Just as God spoke. Is James saying, hey go out to look for all the orphans and widows in Melbourne to care for them? No. He’s saying show practical care to the helpless. Now in that context, people were orphaned and widowed. They did not have a foster parent system where people would look after children. they didn’t have centrelink. Women did not go to uni or be able to find work. That’s the context. But the principle remains. Care for those who are helpless. We are to be different. Not just walk past. We stop. We care. We love. we don’t expect anything in return. That’s costly. So costly. Let’s not help those who can help us back. Help and love those who are in need and helpless. That’s what it means to do the word of God. is that you?
Third and last test.
Test 3.
3. Are you growing in personal holiness?
Verse 27 again
James 1:27 (ESV)
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.
To recognise you are called to be spotless and pure and blameless. And to recognise the world will not help you be like that. you will take drastic measures to be different because you want to do the word.
Hear the word, accept the word and do the word. Church, I’ve found preparing this sermon and preach it very hard. It’s really hard. I feel like a hypocrite. I too find it so hard to get up and long for the word. to hear the word. I too find it so hard to love the poor. I just want to hang out with my friends, the people I like. I too find it hard to do what God says. And so, if you feel that guilt, maybe it is a good thing. maybe God is wanting to convict you of sin. But in all that, remember this; Jesus spent over 30 years hearing the word. he accepted the word completely and he did the word. every bit of it. he healed the sick. He cast out demons. He raised the dead. His record of perfect work is your record through and through by faith. His loving service of dying for your to move you from death to life is guaranteed by faith. So yes confess your sins. But in Christ let’s get up. Keep going. Hear the word, accept the word and do the word. I pray this for all of us and for myself for this year. Find joy in the hard times. Hear and do the word of God. Let’s not be hypocrites but practice what we preach. Don’t merely listen to the word so deceives yourselves, do what it says.
Let’s pray.
