James 1:19-27

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James 1:19-27
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for being here today. My name is Kevin Cook and I’m on staff here at Northwood as the Ministry Resident, and I’m also transitioning to be the Worship Pastor at Northwood at Wando Woods. Tonight, we are going to finish up James chapter one and look at verses 19-27 together. If you have your Bible, start turning to James chapter one, 19-27. If you are unfamiliar with the book of James, it’s towards the end, so you can flip to Revelation and start working your way back and you’ll run into the book of James, if you didn’t bring a Bible there is one in front of you to use and if you don’t own a Bible feel free to take that Bible home with you, read it and learn more about the God who loves you, again James 1:19-27. How many of you remember when you were growing up saying once you are on your own you aren’t going to do things the way your parents do anymore? I do for sure, now mine was mainly food-related. I never liked the idea that only certain foods can be eaten at certain times, why can’t I eat a hotdog for breakfast? And not eating a cookie right before dinner, is that really going to spoil my dinner? So, once I got to college I started doing things my own way, I ate whatever I wanted when I wanted. But once I started having kids, I turned back to doing things my parents’ way. That was a hard transition because I had gotten so used to doing things the way I wanted but once I became responsible for another person it really put things in perspective for me. I remember one time one of my daughters asked if she could have a piece of candy. I told her “no” but she could have a healthy snack, I was being a good dad, and I was looking out for her health. But a few minutes later, I walked by the candy bucket and ate a piece of candy. I didn’t give it any thought really, I saw candy, and I’m an adult, so I ate a piece of candy, no big deal. But my daughter, saw me eat a piece of candy after I told her she couldn’t have one, and she called me out on it. She asked me why I could have a piece of candy, and not her. I was speechless, and not because I had a mouth full of M&M’s, but because I realized I was being hypocritical. I told my daughter one thing, but I didn’t live the way that I told her to. That moment with my daughter exposed a character flaw I had, and that was “do as I say, not as I do”. We as Christians struggle with character flaws. We tell others that they need to be and live a certain way to be a good Christian, but we don’t take our own advice. Some of you in this room know exactly what I’m talking about. And what James reveals to us in his letter is that the early church had a character struggle. They were living by the “do as I say, not as I do” model instead of “practice what you preach”. And in that moment with my daughter, that character flaw was revealed. So as we finish off James chapter 1 we are going see 2 challenges from James that will help in our development of Christlike character. Let’s all rise to our feet and look at James 1: 19-27 as I read it aloud for us.
SERMON
Let’s recap what we’ve learned so far in James from Noah and George. We learned in verses 1-12, that James has written a letter to the Jewish Christians who through persecution had to leave their homes and live in other areas surrounded by unbelievers. We learned that James was the half-brother of Jesus, a very prominent figure in establishing the early church, but instead of flaunting that, he humbly refers to himself as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. We learned how to face our trials with joy by seeking God’s wisdom and that joyfully facing our trials produces spiritual endurance and a blessed life. In 13-18, we learned that through trials we can be tempted to sin, and we need to remember that God isn’t the one tempting us to sin, our own desires are the source of our sin, and God is the stable source of good and perfect gifts that we can rely upon to help us through our trials.
This leads us to our passage today and I’ll start us off with the first challenge, which is to stop talking and start listening. Look back at verse 19. See James isn’t changing the subject from the previous verses, he’s staying on the theme of handling trials, but this time, instead of generalizing that we are tempted to sin when facing trials, he’s pointing out a specific issue that we all still see and struggle with today. James is urging the reader to be slow to anger and speech but be quick to listen. Look at verse 20. Let’s stop right there. How many of you while driving see someone speed past you or cut you off and you say “I hope he gets pulled over, that’ll show him”, and then get mad when they don’t get pulled over, then you say “Where are the cops when you need them?” Our perception of righteousness is revenge, but we make ourselves believe that it’s justice. Our anger looks much more different than God’s. God’s anger and wrath are just, ours is impulsive and driven by selfish desires. God has the right to get angry because He established a covenant with Israel and they kept failing, but God kept getting right. We have never been able to uphold our end of the covenant with God, so yes, he should get angry with us, but He shows so much more grace and mercy than we deserve. We, on the other hand, are not that way. I read a statistic from the Supreme Court of the US website that said in 2021, there were 728 road rage incidents involving a gun, and 62 percent of those incidents resulted in death, that’s 451 deaths all because someone got mad while driving. That is not what James wants us to do, and certainly not God, because acting impulsively out of anger does not fulfill God’s righteousness, His is so much more than that. So, what does accomplishing God’s righteousness mean? God’s righteousness was accomplished through Christ. Christ was able to uphold our end of the covenant. He had the full human experience from conception to death, and lived it out perfectly, the way that we should. He lived the way James is telling us in this Epistle. One way you should respond to stop talking and start listening is not impulsively seek revenge but redirect your thoughts to the cross. See, Christ handled justice and righteousness for us. We have much bigger and better things to look forward to than what inconveniences us here. So, redirect your thoughts to the cross, you should also refocus on the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 21. How do you expect to focus on Christ if you are distracted by the moral filth that fills our culture? I know that’s easier said than done because we have instant streaming services for thousands of movies, shows, and videos that we know don’t honor God, but our selfish desires get in the way, and we sin. That distracts us from focusing on Him. The enemy doesn’t have to work hard to pull us away from God. He knows our weaknesses, so we must stay focused on Christ, but how can we expect Christ to work in our lives unless we receive Him the right way? The implanted Word that can save your soul is the Holy Spirit. Unless you accept the Holy Spirit in you and let Him take root and start working in your life, you fall short every time. But when you do receive the Holy Spirit, and allow Him to work in your life, you then have the ability through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s righteousness. So, stop talking, and start listening. And that leads me to our second challenge.
The second challenge is you need to stop sitting and start doing. Verse 22. James is calling the reader out; we deceive ourselves that hearing Scripture is enough, but what good does that do if you don’t actually do what Scripture is saying to do? Just like in my opening story about my character flaw, we live by a “do as I say not as I do” mentality. How often do we hear the term church hurt? How many people have turned away from Christ because of something someone in the church did or didn’t do? There is too much talk and not enough action in the church. Verse 23-24. What does a mirror show? Just a reflection of the outside, our flesh. Think back to this time, they didn’t have photographs and cameras, and I imagine mirrors were not that common, so people probably didn’t see themselves as regularly as we do. So, if the source of your actions is just you on the surface, and you don’t have the option to regularly see and study yourself, then it’s easy to forget what kind of person you are. So rather than look at yourself as the source of who you are, look to the perfect law of freedom. Verse 25. James is using law language because of the audience he is writing to. This whole idea of Christ redeeming us from the law that we couldn’t obey, and the Holy Spirit implanted in us is new to them. This audience is used to having the law that was given to Moses and trying to live by that. But now that we have the Holy Spirit in us, we are free from the sin that holds us down, and we can live the way we were created to live, and that’s to worship and obey our Father. And the way we live our lives is a reflection of the Gospel. So respond to stop sitting and start doing by seeking the source of your actions. Look at 26. James is calling out the hypocritical in this verse. If you say you are religious, or a Christ follower, but don’t treat people the way a Christ follower should, then your religion is useless, and you have deceived yourself. James spends a lot of time in this epistle about the tongue he goes into more detail about that in chapter 3, so it’s clear that your tongue is worth paying attention to. Jesus says in Matthew 12:34 “Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.” We must ensure our heart is focused on the Holy Spirit, so seek the source of your actions. You should also seek opportunities to serve. Verse 27. The word religion, translated from the Greek word thréskos, doesn’t appear often in the NT. What thréskos means is demonstrated religion, so how a person practices religion. So, this is an action-based word. Pure religion isn’t ceremonial, it’s practicing God’s Word and sharing it with others, through speech, service, and separation from the world. Why should we care for orphans and widows? In this ancient culture, orphans and widows couldn’t provide for themselves. Children obviously depended on their parents, and women depended on their husbands. This gets tricky for widows because the kinship law doesn’t appear to be active anymore. In the Old Testament, when a woman became a widow, she would marry a brother of her late husband, under this law, she would still be taken care of. However, it appears that the care for a widow has shifted to the church. The context for the widow is the same, she is still helpless without a husband, but now the church should step up and help her. I’m sure everyone in this room knows a widow. Even though circumstances are different, women can work and provide for themselves, and even if they don’t, life insurance and retirement benefits are helpful, we still must care for them. Here at Northwood, the deacons do a great job of keeping track of the widows that need help. So if you want to get more involved, feel free to reach out to a deacon and see how you can get involved. Same for orphans. Why should we care for orphans? There are state programs that are funded by our taxes that help them out, so why should you do more than that? The fact is, we were orphans, but God loved us and when you dedicate your life to follow Christ, you become adopted into His family. So the question then becomes, why does Jesus care for us? Why does Jesus love us? Why does Jesus love the deadbeat dad who doesn’t pay child support? Why does Jesus love the burnt-out mom who just can’t take it anymore? Why does Jesus love the murderer on death row just as much as the newborn baby? Why does Jesus love me? Because it’s in His character. Jesus started listening to the Father, and then He started doing what the Father told him. Jesus sets up perfectly how our character is to be shaped. He knew what needed to be done for the sake of humanity, and he did it. He became human and showed us how to live the life that God designed us to live. And then he took our place of death on the cross and sacrificed himself, raised from the dead 3 days later so that we may have the chance to spend eternity with our Father. We are no longer orphans.
As we close our time today, I want the believer in this room to remember to stay focused on Christ and to let the Holy Spirit be the source of your actions so that you can live like Christ, and start listening and start doing what the Holy Spirit is telling you. If you aren’t a believer in this room, I want you to know that there is a God that loves you, so much that He sent His only Son to sacrifice Himself so that He can have a relationship with you. And if you haven’t started that relationship and you want to, we are going to have a time of invitation. I’ll pray for us, then I’ll be down front to talk with you. Let’s pray.
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