James 1 hearers and doers

James 1:19-27

INTRO

You all are really in for a treat, This is my very first time to give a sermon. And i know for a fact that it is excellent because i practiced this the other night for the kids, and Easton started falling asleep about half way through.

This morning were going to take a look at the book of James

Imagine waking up in the morning, you get up and glance in the mirror. Hair is a mess, beard matted down, maybe its springtime in Oklahoma and you've got dried up snot on your nose, you've got sleepiness stuff is in your eyes. You see all this, you change nothing, and you say, I'm good to go. You head off to morning service, or work, or whatever it is you have that day

In VS23 James is going relate just that scenario to the Word of God and how we should approach it, but before we get there, he's going to set the foundation for how Christians should conduct themselves.

If youd like to follow along im going to read the text

James 1:19–27 “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. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 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. 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 anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 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

In Vs 19 he starts with a greeting, my beloved brothers. (Hes speaking to Christians, specifically to 12 dispersed tribes due to persecution)

My beloved brothers, Let every person be quick to hear, Slow to speak, Slow to anger. I want to dive into these individually.

Quick to hear

He starts by saying be quick to hear, quick to hear implies being an active listener. Especially to Gods word but not only to Gods word. If we want to know the perfect law as he later calls it, We must be active listeners.

We must seek wise council. Nowadays were incredible blessed, we have so many ways we can take in the word of God. We have podcast, sermons online, we have the bible in any translation in our hands, For us, its not hard to access the word of God, but James is talking to dispersed tribes of Israel, Ease of access probably wasnt quite the same for them, they had to be good listeners, quick to hear, to know what they needed to know.

Just because we have better access to the word today, the command is still the same. With ease of access to tons of information we have other challenges in front of us. The first thing that came to my mind was distraction; we are incredibly distracted these days. Has your phone ever gone off during church, or someones else and we lose focus? Am i the only one to ever to open my phone, and 20 minutes later i realize im scrolling through reels when i actually grabbed it to do something purposeful? Or how about The challenge of recognizing incorrect teaching. Discerning what's real and fake when it comes to the things online regarding Christianity. It's still just as important that we are active listeners, that we are quick to hear.

Quick to hear doesn't just apply to us taking in the word though, this is how we should live our everyday lives, it's how we should approach conversations. For us to reach others, for us to Build relationships, for us to recognize needs of others we need to be quick to hear.

Have you ever been talking to someone and either they interrupt, or maybe you can see the glazed over face of them waiting on you to pause only so they can get out what they want to say?? Don't start pointing, well cover slow to speak in just a few minutes. You know instantly that the information isnt sinking in. You might as well just stop talking, you're wasting your time. On the flip side James says to us, dont do this, How are we to reach people, how are we to connect, if we aren't active listeners,

My daughter, bless her, you can tell that girl the absolute most specific instruction, Savannah, go to the dirty clothes hamper, get the basket of dirty clothes, and bring them to the washer, 30 minutes later shell show up with a turtle made of clay that Shes molded and painted.

Slow to speak

James then says, Slow to speak, Have you ever said something that you regret saying? Duh! Dumb question i know. Some times we blurt something out, and instantly were like, how can i get that back in! Well unfortunately you cant, or maybe type something in response to something we see online, and then hopefully we have time to delete it before someone grabs a screenshot. Words, are powerful. Words are dangerous. And once they come out of your mouth you cant put them back in. This is a warning against hasty careless words.

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”

Death and Life: You see, Our words can lead people astray. But they can also tell people the good news of the gospel. They can be an example of what to do, or what not to do.

A reminder that James is speaking to those that are followers, and knowers of God. James is speaking to us. Members of Gods church. Our words represent us, our character, they represent Christianity, they represent the Church of Christ. Have you ever run across a headline of something some member of the church said or did? Of course you have.

Christians do good things every single day. But there are many out there waiting for the one of us that slips up, and when they do, in the eyes of the public we are all guilty. James is giving us a command to live by, think before we speak, think before we post. Think before we respond. Our words can be a gift. But they can be a curse.

Slow to anger

And now James takes the sword of the spirit, and he stabs it right into me. He says, slow to anger. The anger of Man does not produce the righteousness of God

Proverbs 14:17 “A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.”

I know of at least 3 people in here that will confirm this is a struggle of mine. And unfortunately, i think I've passed this struggle down to one of my kiddos, I won't say his name as to save him the embarrassment. James says the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, I doubt anyone here would argue that some of our most regrettable actions, our worst times come when we are angry.

Think of a time you got angry, maybe at a spouse, a brother or sister, a coworker, an extended family member. What did that anger solve? Within that anger did you bring forth God or did selfishness take over you? If we look back, how often does that anger cause us or others to stumble? How often does that anger fracture the ability for us to lead people to God.

Romans 12:18–21 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Human anger is destructive, and even when justified, often leads to sin. And here James directly contrasts our anger, to the righteous life God desires us to live. The Greek word here for righteousness is dikaiosynē ( dik i a soon yae) and it refers to upright character and conduct that is approved by God, this is not necessarily being judiciously right or wrong. When were angry, how often do you think our actions are approved by God?

I want to point out that it doesn't say never get angry. if you'll remember, there was a time Jesus got angry, But his anger was never selfish, it was triggered injustice, hypocrisy, and disrespect torward God. Theres a sermon there for another day, But almost always, our anger is out of place, not righteous, and driven by selfish desire.

Recieve the Word

James began with a practical recipe for how we should live, a posture for us, a way for us to conduct ourselves

and now in VS 21 hes going to instruct us on how we should receive the word.

James 1:21 “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

The greek word for meekness is prautēs. (prah oo tace) It means with humility, humble, with gentleness, A teachable spirit.

James urges us to “PUT AWAY” (which is like taking off dirty clothes,) he says put away Filthiness which is moral impurity, and the word here for wickedness means an overflow of evil.

That is some bold imagery, put away our moral impurity and overflow of evil. This suggest a deliberate rejection of sin, and then contrast it by saying receive with meekness the implanted word.

When i think about the “implanted word” like the parable of the sower, its like a seed, that in good soil, in a humble heart that receives with humility, takes root and grows within you. He then says, if you receive the word this way it has the ability to save your soul.

Not just hearers, But doers

This might be a place we prefer to stop, But If any of your ever watched college gameday I can hear Lee Corso saying “Not so fast my friend” Because James is just getting started,

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

James in vs 22 says , but don't just be hearers of the word. We have to be doers of the word! If we are hearers of the word and not doers, we are deceiving ourselves.

I think many of us today are pretty good at hearing the word. At taking in the word. We get out bible. We fill our coffee mug to the brim, We set up a camera, and as Brandon says, we get our picture made. And we know pictures dont count unless we post it to the Gram. We probably read some, Listen to a sermon, listen to a podcast or something. James says, now DO IT. So what is that next step in obedience? What is that next thing we need to do?

Curtis is it to start a study group? Is it to be intentional about daily bible lessons with someone? Is it to call or even send a text to that person to reconcile? Is it to forgive someone, and let them know youve done so? Is it to be more intentional about praying? Is it to sign up to get up here and preach, or to lead a class? I don't know what it is for you.

James 1:23–24 “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.”

I love the bible because James uses the perfect analogy of the bible as a mirror, I'm not near smart enough to think of something like this. He says open up the perfect law and use it like a mirror, well what is a mirror used for? A mirrors job is not to simple be a mirror, its job is to show us our reflection, to show us what we cant see without it. I guess James wasnt aware of the selfie camera.

You ladies understand this perfectly, you all get up, look in the mirror, and those of you with Straight hair say, God gave me straight hair, let me plug in my curling iron and fix this. And the ladies in here that have curly hair look in the mirror and say, God gave me curly hair, let me plug in my straightener. You ladies get it, look in the mirror and fix the situation.

Don't worry men i have something for us too. You see we look in the mirror with way to much confidence, We glance in the mirror and maybe kinda flex, We flex our good arm, maybe flex the abs, and say, about 15 less pounds i might be able to see those abs. Ive even looked and thought maybe i saw an ab, and then reach down and its just the edge of a roll in the right place you know. Maybe our mirrors or broken. except Matts, his is probably accurate.

But i wouldn't look in the Mirror and see all that's wrong and say, Brandi we need a new mirror, i look terrible in this one. No, the job of the mirror is to show us our reflection, that we can look at it and fix the problem. The Bible is the same way, often we look at it and we want to pick and choose what we want to fix, or what we want to ignore. We don't get to look at this book and then go away and forget what it says.

I heard something recently that said, Christians need to use the bible more as a mirror and less as binoculars.

Matthew 7:3–5 “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

We don't get to take in the word of God and point out the flaws we see in everyone else, and not put away the filthiness and wickedness within ourselves.

James 1:25 “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.”

Blessed is the doer who acts. Don't look at your reflection and forget what you see.

James calls it the Law of liberty, That is, a law that when obeyed brings forth blessing and freedom. It will save your soul

Studying through this really hit home for me, there's definitely parts here that im better at and parts im not so good at. Unfortunately, when you get to vs 26 and 27 he doesn't leave us much of an out. Theres no guess work.

Your religion is worthless

James 1:26–27 “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 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.”

James tells us, you think your religious, if you don't bridle your tongue, you deceive your heart. you post your picture, you listen to the sermon, and then you go away and forget what the word says. your religion is worthless.

In my personal life, i spend a lot of time taking in the word, I listen to podcast, Theres a handful of churches that i haven't missed a sermon in a long time, i watch way to much YouTube on archeology relating to the bible, Christian debates, all kinds of stuff, I read my bible daily. And i wouldn't really admit to being deceived by this, but as i studied through this it was crystal clear to me, I have at least a couple of things God has been calling on me to do, and I'll put it nicely, i have been incredibly patient with them.

So let me ask, would James say your religion is worthless? What is that thing God has been calling on you to DO? What is that phone call you need to make? What is that worldly commitment that youve been putting in front of everything else, giving to much time to,and its time to make a chnage? Maybe its a friend or a neighbor or a family member that you need to reach out to, maybe its to teach or study with someone, maybe its a commitment to prayer, Maybe you haven't made that commitment to God and its time to do that? Maybe it's to ask someone to study with you about what it is to have a relationship with God. All things are ready for you.