James 6

James 1:19

Last week we discussed the great generosity of God and the incredible gifts that He has given to us through common grace, meaning all that is provided in a general sense to us such as necesity and pleasure, and special grace through salvation in Christ. We ended by noting His purpose in redeeming us and saving us from our sin and that was to make us His prized posession, the thing He wants to show off to show others His great glory and splendor. I left you then with a charge to live according to that calling to live as His prized possession and not as unwanted garbage as the rest of the world does. That leaves us then with the question how do we live as God’s prized possession in this world? Luckily James tells us just that.

James 1:19–20 “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Starting with the introduction to this verse we see that James is clearly referring back to our status as God’s prized possession when he says so then. What James is saying is if you are the prized possession of God then this is how you are to act. The first thing that James calls us to do is be swift to hear. This is one of the areas of scripture that we need to carefully analyze what the entire message is before we ascribe meaning to something based on one verse. I have myself been guilty of saying that what this verse was talking about is that we should be swift to hear someone else out. That we should be a listening ear for others to understand their problems, and while this is a possible interpretation of the text and an application that can be made it is not the primary meaning of the verse. You see James is not just saying be swift to hear just anyone, but James is specifically saying be swift to hear God. If we want to live a life fitting of our calling as God’s prized possession then that starts with hearing His word and learning what He has called us to be. If we spend our whole lives listening to the world about how we are to act or even to people we respect and trust we will miss out on the greatest instruction for life which is found in the holy word of God. The world around you is going to try to drown out the voice of God. It is going to try to make you so busy you feel as though you have no time to study His word and hear what He has for you in your life but I encourage you to always make listening to God your number one priority and if that means someone else is upset with you or there is something that you can’t do then so be it. God is priority number one in our lives and when we put listening to Him at that spot then He will honor that committment and take care of the rest.

Second, we are called to be slow to speak. When looking in context to the rest of the chapter so far we can apply this to times of trial and times of temptation in that when we face adversity in life do not be hasty to speak on it. It is our duty to take a step back and examine what God is doing before we cast judgement on the situation in our lives. When things of any kind be they good or tragic happen in our lives before we begin to speak on them we should go to God and listen for His judgement on the circumstance so that our words may be in line with His words. We have an unfortunate habit as humans to believe we know best and speak without thinking. We must learn to hold our tongue and not spout off the first thing that comes to mind. The amount of times that I have mispoken on a topic simply because I was impatient or arrogant and did not take the time to consult God’s word on the matter first is shameful truthfully. In all matters of life our first response it to consult the word of God and slow down. If a person asks your opinion on something it is ok to say that you need some time to think and pray before you answer. People may not like that since we live in such a results now society but ultimately it is better to offend man than offend God by misrepresenting Him and His word.

Finally is slow to wrath. We tend to get so upset over situations and circumstances around us. We get furious when life does not go our way from our perspective. See the problem is that we plan out everything for how we want our lives to go and we feel like that is the best course of action for our life and when it doesn’t work out that way we think God is in error and not ourselves.

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

We can make all the plans in the world but at the end of the day it is God who is in control and it is God who knows best. This is not a verse to make us loose heart that our plans are meaningless, it is a verse to encourage us that the one who knows far better than we do is directing our steps and looking out for us. If then this is the case what is the use in being angered over something not going the way you expected it to go? God has planned for it to happen as it did and if God is involved then know that God is working on something bigger and greater than we can understand right now.

James continues in verse twenty to warn us against wrath by stating that a mans wrath is not equal to the righteousness of God. There have been many throughought history to be wrathful in their work for the Lord. Hating not only the sin, but the sinner with it. James is saying here that this wrath does not equal God’s righteousness. It is not that the more we hate and call out sinful people the more righteous we appear. God is the final judge and is the only one who has the true rights to be wrathful towards man. It is not our job then to step out of our lane and into God’s to exude wrath upon the sinful people around us for their own lost state.

Once we have slowed down then and listened to God’s will for our lives what is next in living as God’s prized possession?

James 1:21 “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Lets break this verse down into a couple of pieces. The first is to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. What is meant by this is simply reject the evil ways of the world. The world around us is filled with cruelty towards others through gossip, slander, and violence. It is filled with lying and stealing to get ahead. It is filled with sexual immorality like never before in history. What James is calling us to here is to be different. The analogy that I find the most useful here is if you were to be put on trial for being a Christian would you be let go immediately for lack of evidence or would you be sentenced as guilty before you even walked in the room? No one around us should have to wonder if we are a believer or not because it should be apparent in our lives. You know when I was in high school I had a lot of friends that partied and drank and did whatever, I was not perfect by any means but all of my friends from that group knew not to invite me to those parties because I wasn’t going. They knew I was a Christian and was firm in my faith and did not do stuff like that. They knew if they had a question about scripture they would come to me and ask what I knew about it. As I said I was not perfect by any means I had a plethora of sins that I still regret and hate today, but the point is that I was different. There was evidence in my life that I was clearly a believer in Christ. Is there evidence in yours? Are you different from the people around you or are you living the same life as everyone else going to the same parties taking the same substances having the same sexual sins. If that is the case it doesn’t matter that you go to church every week if you were put on trial for your faith they would let you walk instantly because they would say oh they are no different than me. We are called to put aside all of the filthy ways of the world because we have been called to a better life, one filled with joy and fullfillment in Christ instead of pain and misery in sin.

The second half of this verse is about how we are able to do such a tall task. We are supposed to receive the word with meekness. First notice the descriptor for the word, it is implanted. William Barclay notes that this could have two possible interpretations and it is possible to be both of these at once. The first is that the word is innately written on the hearts of men to know to some extent what is right and what is wrong. This is seen in verses like.

Romans 2:15 “who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)”

By this it is meant that when people join in on the sin of the world then God has created us in such a way that without being told we know that what we are doing is wrong. All across the world people feel guilt and shame for wrong doings against God even if they are not Christian and have never heard the law of God before they know somehow that they are in the wrong. This is something that we can still feel even when we cant point to the exact verse in scripture, when we sin against God we can feel the weight of our guilt because God put the law in us already.

The second interpretation goes back to the parable of the sower in the Gospel of Matthew. In this parable God is seen as the one who plants the seeds and the seeds are His word. What James could also be referring to here is that God has called us with His word and planted it into our heart through preaching, Sunday School lessons, church camps, or maybe just personal devotion and not that word is growing within us and calls us out on our sin.

Both of these interpretations of implanted are true as they both have scriptural ties thus we can rightly assume both is intended for this verse. Either way the point is the same that God has put his word into you and that you are supposed to listen and respond with meekness.

Now what does it mean to respond with meekness? By this what is meant is that we should submit humbly when we are corrected by His word. We should not feel the conviction in His word and turn to anger lashing out at God for the correction, but we should admit our own fault in the matter and submit ourselves to His word so that we can try again.

Finally is the ending of the verse which states that this word is able to save our souls. This again has two meanings as we mentioned a few weeks ago that being saved has multiple steps. First we can look at this as the believer in Christ should and that His word is still actively working to sanctify us and save our souls from sin daily. It is working to help us to come in line with God and unify ourselves to Him so that we may have a better life here and now on Earth but more importantly so that we might reflect the majesty of Christ in our life so that others may see His glory.

The other way that the word is working to save is through justification. If you are here with us tonight and you have never repented of your sins and placed your faith in Christ then know that God is extending the call to you. The great word of His gospel God sending His one and only Son to live a sinless life and die on a cross to pay for our sins and then be raised three days later to be the first of the resurected giving us a promise of our future is what God’s word is proclaiming to you tonight. If you have never received that Gospel and turned your life over to Him then I plead with you tonight accept the call and begin living as a prized possession of God.